FHE  SHORT  COURSE  SERIES 


THE  PSALM  OF  PSALMS 


GIFT  or 


THE  SHORT  COURSE   SERIES 


THE  PSALM   OF  PSALMS 


GENERAL     PREFACE 


THE  title  of  the  present  series  is  a  sufficient 
indication  of  its  purpose.  Few  preachers, 
or  congregations,  will  face  the  long  courses 
of  expository  lectures  which  characterised 
the  preaching  of  the  past,  but  there  is  a 
growing  conviction  on  the  part  of  some 
that  an  occasional  short  course,  of  six  or 
eight  connected  studies  on  one  definite 
theme,  is  a  necessity  of  their  mental  and 
ministerial  life.  It  is  at  this  point  the  pro- 
jected series  would  strike  in.  It  would 
suggest  to  those  who  are  mapping  out  a 
scheme  of  work  for  the  future  a  variety  of 
subjects  which  might  possibly  be  utilised  in 
this  way. 

The  appeal,  however,  will  not  be  restricted 
to  ministers  or  preachers.  The  various 
volumes  will  meet  the  needs  of  laymen  and 

•  * 

n 


General  Preface 

Sabbath-school  teachers  who  are  interested 
in  a  scholarly  but  also  practical  exposition 
of  Bible  history  and  doctrine.  In  the  hands 
of  office-bearers  and  mission-workers  the 
"  Short  Course  Series '  may  easily  become 
one  of  the  most  convenient  and  valuable 
of  Bible  helps. 

It  need  scarcely  be  added  that  while  an 
effort  has  been  made  to  secure,  as  far  as 
possible,  a  general  uniformity  in  the  scope 
and  character  of  the  series,  the  final  re- 
sponsibility for  the  special  interpretations 
and  opinions  introduced  into  the  separate 
volumes,  rests  entirely  with  the  individual 
contributors. 

A  detailed  list  of  the  authors  and  their 
subjects  will  be  found  at  the  close  of  each 
volume. 


111 


Volumes  already  Published 

A  Cry  for  Justice:  A  Study  in  Amos. 
By  Prof.  JOHN  E.  MCFADYEN,  D.D. 

The  Beatitudes. 

By  Rev.  ROBERT  H.  FISHER,  D.D. 

The  Lenten  Psalms. 
By  the  EDITOR. 

The  Psalm  of  Psalms. 

By  Prof.  JAMES  STALKER,  D.D. 

The  Song  and  the  Soil. 

By  Prof.  W.  G.  JORDAN,  D.D. 

The  Higher  Powers  of  the  Soul. 

By  Rev.  GEORGE  M'HARDY,  D.D. 


PRICE  60  CENTS  NET  PER  VOLUME 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


ZTbe  Sbort  Course  Series 

EDITED   BY 

REV.  JOHN  ADAMS,  B.D. 


THE 

PSALM  OF  PSALMS 

BEING   AN    EXPOSITION    OF   THE 
TWENTY-THIRD   PSALM 


BY  THE 


REV.  JAMES  STALKER,  M.A.,  D.D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  CHURCH   HISTORY  IN  THE  UNITED  FREE  COLLEGE 

ABERDEEN 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1913 


TO 

T.O. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION          »•»••! 
THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD        .          .          •          -15 
REST   .......      35 

DISCIPLINE     .          .          .          .          .          -55 

IN  EXTREMIS  .  .  .  .  •      75 

THE  ROYAL  ENTERTAINER.  .          .          .89 

FOREVER        .          .          .          .          .          .105 

APPENDIX      .          .          .          .          •          .125 

INDEX  ...•••    129 


vn 


THE  Twenty-third  Psalm  is  the  nightingale 
among  the  Psalms.  It  is  small,  of  a  homely 
feather,  singing  shyly  out  of  obscurity ;  but  it 
has  filled  the  air  of  the  whole  world  with 
melodious  joy,  greater  than  the  heart  can 
conceive.  Blessed  be  the  day  on  which  that 
Psalm  was  born  ! 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 


via 


INTRODUCTION 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  Decalogue,  the  Aaronic  Blessing  and  the 
Twenty-third  Psalm  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  the  Beatitudes,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and 
the  Apostolic  Benediction  in  the  New,  with 
perhaps  two  or  three  other  passages  of  similar 
calibre,  are  the  best-known  portions  of  Holy 
Writ.  They  were  learned  by  us  at  a  mother's 
knee,  or  at  least  from  our  earliest  instructors  ; 
and  they  are  all  of  sufficient  substance  to 
stand  constant  repetition,  as  solid  gold  is  only 
brightened  by  frequent  rubbing.  To  genera- 
tions and  centuries  of  men  such  scriptures 
have  ministered  "doctrine,  reproof,  correction, 
instruction  in  righteousness  "  ;  and,  though 
they  are  the  earliest  efforts  of  memory,  they 
will  reward  the  maturest  ponderings  of  the 
human  mind.  The  Twenty-third  Psalm,  in 

3 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

particular,  ever  since  it  sprang  into  existence 
from  the  inspired  genius  of  its  author,  has 
served  to  express  the  experience  of  the  pious  ; 
and  the  modern  man  can  measure  his  own 
progress  and  attainment  by  the  extent  to 
which  he  can  make  its  sentiments  his  own. 
Not  only,  however,  will  the  venerable  words 
measure  attainment,  but  they  will  stimulate 
it  and  awaken  higher  aspiration.  Hence  the 
psalm  is  worthy  to  be  studied  verse  by  verse 
and  line  by  line. 

I.  AUTHORSHIP. 

There  was  a  time,  not  very  long  ago,  when 
any  psalm  might  be  quoted  as  a  psalm  of 
David.  We  have  now  reached  a  stage  when 
it  would  be  denied  by  experts  of  a  certain 
class  that  even  a  single  psalm  can  be  proved 
to  have  proceeded  from  the  Bard  of  Bethle- 
hem. The  one  extreme  is,  however,  as  un- 
tenable as  the  other.  When  the  controversy 
about  such  subjects  first  broke  out  in  the 
Church  with  which  I  am  connected,  I  re- 
member a  minister  of  saintliness  and  learn- 


Introduction 

ing  declaring  that  for  him  the  Fifty-first 
Psalm  would  lose  all  its  virtue  if  it  were  not 
from  the  pen  of  David  ;  and  some  may  be 
inclined  to  say  the  same  about  this  Twenty- 
third  Psalm.  I  should  not  like  to  say  this 
peremptorily  about  any  piece  in  the  Psalter  ; 
and  in  general  I  like  to  think  of  the  Psalms 
as  proceeding  from  a  large  number  and 
variety  of  voices  spread  at  intervals  over  the 
pre-Christian  centuries.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  when  the  attribution  of  a  psalm  to 
some  known  personage,  or  its  connection 
with  some  recorded  event,  throws  light  on 
the  whole  composition,  and  is  not  inconsis- 
tent with  anything  in  the  text,  it  seems  to 
me  to  be  extinguishing  the  light  not  to  take 
advantage  of  this  circumstance. 

Now,  the  reasons  for  believing  this  Twenty- 
third  Psalm  to  be  a  legacy  bequeathed  to  the 
people  of  God  by  King  David  are  very 
strong  indeed,  and  the  assumption  that  he 
is  the  author  throws  light  on  every  verse. 

First,  it  lies  on  the  surface  that  the  re- 
lation of  God  to  His  people  is  here  compared 
to  the  relation  of  a  shepherd  to  his  sheep  ; 

5 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

and  of  this  David  could  speak  from  experi- 
ence, as  he  had  been  a  shepherd.  Indeed, 
the  suggestion  has  not  infrequently  been 
made  that  he  may  have  composed  this  lyric 
whilst  as  a  ruddy  youth  he  was  watching  his 
flocks  on  the  pastures  of  his  father  Jesse. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  has  been 
observed  with  truth  that  the  experience 
here  described  is  not  that  of  a  stripling  or 
beginner,  but  of  one  mature  in  the  life  divine, 
who  has  had  experience  of  all  forms  of  guid- 
ance, in  vicissitude  as  well  as  rest,  in  gloom 
as  well  as  sunshine.  But,  even  if  the  psalm 
was  composed  in  old  age  or  at  least  maturity, 
as  it  probably  was,  the  sweet  singer  could 
make  use  of  the  experiences  of  his  youth, 
which  he  could  not  have  forgotten.  At 
that  time  he  had  been  a  model  shepherd, 
loving  his  flock  and  loved  by  them  ;  and  in 
the  psalm  the  entire  life  of  a  sheep  under  a 
good  shepherd  is  employed  as  an  image  or 
parable  of  a  human  life  led  under  the  guid- 
ance and  protection  of  God. 

But  it  may  not  have  been  noted  by  some 
readers,  often  as    they  have  read  and  sung 

6 


Introduction 

this  psalm,  that,  in  the  second  half  of  it,  we 
are  away  from  the  image  of  the  sheep  al- 
together, and  that  another  image  is  being 
developed.  When,  at  v.  5,  it  is  said,  "  Thou 
preparest  a  table  before  me  in  the  presence 
of  mine  enemies  ;  Thou  anointest  my  head 
with  oil  ;  my  cup  runneth  over,"  it  is  ob- 
vious that  the  words  are  put  not  into  the 
mouth  of  a  sheep,  but  into  that  of  a 
guest,  and  that  the  person  addressed  is  no 
longer  conceived  of  as  a  shepherd,  but  as  a 
host  or  entertainer.  The  table  spread,  the 
head  anointed,  the  cup  full  to  overflowing 
are  obvious  features  of  a  banquet ;  and  the 
idea  is,  that  he  who  has  God  for  his  friend 
enjoys  a  continual  feast,  where  everything  is 
in  abundance  and  everything  is  of  the  best. 
The  same  cheerful  image  is  kept  up  in  the 
closing  verse--"  Goodness  and  mercy  shall 
follow  me  all  the  days  of  my  life  ;  and  I  will 
dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  ever/1 
The  favourite  is  not  only  to  be  a  guest,  but 
one  who  abides  in  the  house  for  ever — that 


is,  a  son. 


The    point    to    be    observed    is,  that  this 

7 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

second  image  agrees,  as  well  as  does  the  first, 
with  the  experience  of  David.  If,  during 
the  first  half  of  his  life,  he  was  a  shepherd, 
he  was,  during  the  second  half,  a  king  ;  and 
one  of  the  duties  of  a  king  is  hospitality. 
Indeed,  this  trait  is  mentioned  again  and 
again  in  the  history  as  characteristic  of 
David's  mature  life  ;  and  what  a  fascination 
he  exercised  as  a  host  may  be  inferred  from 
the  offer  of  two  of  his  braves  to  risk  their 
lives  in  order  to  procure  what  he  wanted, 
when  he  expressed  a  desire  to  taste  a  draught 
of  water  from  the  Well  of  Bethlehem.  To 
his  guests  he  could  supply  not  only  the  good 
things  of  the  table,  but,  with  his  musical  gifts, 
the  feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  soul.  If 
David  was  a  model  shepherd  at  one  period 
of  life,  he  was  a  model  entertainer  at  another  ; 
and  this  experience  also  supplied  him  with 
the  means  of  illustrating  both  the  behaviour 
of  God  to  men  and  the  attitude  of  men  to 
God. 

We  shall  see  afterwards  why  it  was  that 
David  found  the  image  of  the  shepherd  in- 
sufficient, and  had  to  add  that  of  the  royal 

8 


Introduction 

entertainer.  But,  in  the  meantime,  we  per- 
ceive how  natural  it  was  that  he  should 
employ  both  figures  of  speech.  I  do  not 
deny  that  another  poet  might  have  hit  upon 
the  same  combination  without  having  had 
either  experience  in  his  own  case.  But  to 
have  had  the  double  experience  in  the  same 
lifetime  must  have  been  a  very  rare  thing. 
It  certainly  adds  to  the  value  of  the  psalm 
if  we  assume  that  the  sweet  singer  was  speak- 
ing from  experience  in  both  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  it.  There  is  a  life-likeness 
which  supports  this  view  ;  and,  though  it 
would  be  of  no  use  to  affirm  dogmatically 
the  Davidic  authorship,  we  shall  assume  this 
throughout. 

II.  APPLICATION. 

An  eccentric  professor,  under  whom  I 
studied  at  college,  used  to  say  that  the  most 
important  word  in  a  text  may  be  the  one 
after  the  last ;  and  it  is  certainly  true  that  the 
message  of  no  Old  Testament  passage  is  ex- 
hausted when  it  has  been  interpreted  by  the 
mere  analysis  of  the  words  and  their  applica- 

9 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

tion  to  the  original  situation.  The  first 
duty  of  an  interpreter  is  to  find  out  what  the 
writer  meant  to  convey  at  the  moment  when 
he  wrote  ;  but  the  words  may  suggest  far  more 
to  a  Christian  reader.  Of  this  a  remarkable 
instance  has  often  struck  me  :  in  the  Thirty- 
first  Psalm  a  saintly  singer  says,  "  Into  thine 
hand  I  commit  my  spirit  "  ;  but  our  Saviour, 
in  quoting  the  words  on  the  cross,  prefaced 
them  with  the  word  "  Father,"  thus  placing 
on  them  His  own  distinctive  signature  ;  and 
St.  Stephen,  in  adopting  them  as  his  dying 
words,  actually  addressed  them  to  the  Saviour 
Himself,  saying,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit."  This  indicates  how  wide  may  be  the 
scope  of  legitimate  Christian  application. 

The  principle  applies  to  our  Psalm  also, 
which  is  a  fine  example  of  how  the  beautiful 
and  profound  passages  of  the  Old  Testament 
become  far  more  beautiful  and  far  more 
profound  when  read  in'  the  light  of  the 
New. 

The  image  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  applied 
in  the  Old  Testament  to  God,  is  applied  in 
the  New  Testament  to  Christ ;  it  is  especially 

10 


Introduction 

applied  by  Jesus  to  Himself,  as  when  He 
says,  "  The  good  shepherd  giveth  his  life  for 
the  sheep."  David  might  have  introduced 
this  feature  into  the  Twenty-third  Psalm  ; 
because,  as  we  know  from  the  account  he 
gave  of  himself  at  his  first  interview  with 
King  Saul,  there  were  more  occasions  than 
one  when  he  risked  his  life  for  the  flock. 
He  omitted  it  ;  but  the  Son  of  David  could 
not  omit  it,  because  this  was  to  be  His  most 
characteristic  act  ;  "  for  the  Son  of  man 
came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to 
minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many."  Some  in  our  day  are  teaching 
that  the  supreme  and  final  message  of  Jesus 
was  trust  in  Providence — faith  that  the  divine 
will,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  best.  That  is  a 
priceless  lesson  ;  but  it  had  been  amply 
taught  long  before  the  Incarnation.  Jesus 
rejoiced  in  it,  and  repeated  it  ;  but  it  was  not 
His  last  word  ;  it  is  not  likely  that  He 
stopped  short  at  such  truth  as  had  already 
been  perfectly  uttered  by  King  David. 

The    other     image    of   the    Twenty-third 
Psalm  is  the  Royal  Entertainer  ;    and   this, 

1 1 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

too,  recurs  in  the  words  of  Jesus,  but  with  a 
deepened  meaning.  He  frequently,  in  His 
parables,  compared  the  Gospel  to  a  feast. 
Even  in  this  world  Christianity  turns  human 
life  into  a  festival,  and  in  the  world  to  come 
the  life  of  the  blessed  will  be  the  Marriage 
Supper  of  the  Lamb.  For  Christ  brought 
life  and  immortality  to  light.  He  spoke  of 
the  world  unseen  as  of  a  place  native  and 
familiar ;  and  His  own  Resurrection  and 
Ascension  opened  the  gates  of  heaven  to  all 
believers.  Thus  what  the  Old  Testament 
saints  only  groped  after  is  now  for  us  a  sure 
possession. 

Closely  allied  to  this  image  is  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  which  Christ 
goes  down  through  all  the  centuries,  to  the 
end  of  time,  in  the  character  of  Royal 
Entertainer,  with  these  words  encircling  His 
figure,  "  This  Man  receiveth  sinners  and 
eateth  with  them."  Of  this,  Sir  H.  W. 
Baker  has  taken  advantage  in  the  eucharistic 
hymn,  "  The  King  of  love  my  shepherd  is," 
which  is  a  rendering,  verse  by  verse,  of  our 
Psalm,  with  only  a  Christian  touch  added 

12 


Introduction 

here  and  there.  Hardly,  indeed,  were  even 
these  changes  necessary  ;  for,  in  its  naked 
simplicity,  the  Twenty-third  Psalm  gives 
such  adequate  expression  to  Christian  feeling, 
in  even  its  most  intimate  moments,  that  it 
might  compete  with  the  Hundred-and-third 
or  the  Hundred-and-sixteenth  for  the  title  of 
the  Psalm  for  the  Communion  Table. 


THE   GOOD  SHEPHERD 


THE  GOOD   SHEPHERD 

VERSE  FIRST. 

**  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd ; 
I  shall  not  want." 

THE  handling  of  the  material  in  this  psalm 
is  very  artistic.  The  primary  idea  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  opening  words,  "  The  Lord  is 
my  Shepherd  "  ;  and  then,  to  the  end  of  v.  4, 
follow  inferences  from  it,  mentioning  in  de- 
tail the  different  things  which  one  who  is  a 
good  shepherd  will  do.  Of  these  inferences 
the  first  is  included  in  this  first  verse,  "  I 
shall  not  want."  This  is  the  sole  negative 
inference  ;  those  that  follow  are  positive. 

I.  A  PROFITABLE  PRACTICE. 

Not  long  ago,  on  opening  a  new  book — 
a  translation  from  the  Dutch — on  the  Lord's 

B  17 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

Parables,  I  was  struck  with  the  way  in  which 
the  subject  was  divided.  First  were  dis- 
cussed the  parables  taken  from  agriculture, 
of  which  there  were  said  to  be  seven  ;  then 
those  taken  from  the  work  of  the  vinedresser, 
of  which  there  were  six  ;  then  those  taken 
from  the  work  of  the  shepherd  ;  then  those 
from  the  industry  of  the  fisherman ;  and  so 
on. 

It  brought  home  to  me  more  distinctly 
than  I  had  ever  observed  before,  how  the 
common  life  of  Palestine  was  all  swept,  for 
purposes  of  illustration,  into  the  teaching  of 
Christ — with  what  an  observant  and  sympa- 
thetic eye  He  had  looked  upon  the  common 
occupations  of  men,  and  how  suggestive  they 
had  been  to  Him  of  spiritual  analogies. 

I  suppose,  the  four  occupations  to  which  I 
have  referred  were  the  most  common  in 
Palestine.  There  was,  first,  agriculture  : 
this  was  the  basis  of  existence,  and  in  it  the 
body  of  the  people  were  employed.  Then 
there  was  the  occupation  of  the  vinedresser  : 
every  sunny  hillside  was  covered  with  vine- 
yards, and  at  the  time  of  the  vintage  the 

18 


The  Good   Shepherd 

whole  land  was  filled  with  the  sonars  of  those 

o 

who  gathered  and  those  who  trod  the  grapes. 
Then  there  was  the  occupation  of  the  shep- 
herd :  the  hills  which  were  not  suitable  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  vine  were  clothed  with 
flocks  ;  and  every  village  had  its  droves  of 
great  and  small  cattle,  which  were  led  out  to 
the  pastures  every  evening.  Then  there  was 
the  labour  of  the  fisherman,  which  Jesus 
could  not  possibly  omit,  because  it  was  so 
conspicuous  in  the  part  of  the  country  in 
which  the  principal  scene  of  His  ministry  lay. 
It  was  not  only,  however,  nor  was  it  first 
by  Him  that  these  features  of  common  life 
in  the  Holy  Land  were  beautifully  described 
and  used  as  vehicles  for  conveying  spiritual 
truth.  In  both  the  poetical  and  prophetical 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament  we  find  the  same 
practice  in  full  operation.  How  often,  for 
example,  in  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets,  are 
the  people  of  God  compared  to  a  vine,  of 
which  God  is  the  husbandman  ;  and  every 
single  step  in  the  history  of  the  vineyard, 
from  the  time  it  is  cleared  of  stones  and 
fenced  in  from  the  surrounding  waste  on  to 

'9 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

the  point  where  the  wine  is  in  the  cup  and 
at  the  owner's  lips,  is  made  use  of  to 
illustrate  some  aspect  or  other  of  divine 
truth.  Still  more  common,  if  possible,  is 
the  use  for  the  same  purpose  made  of  the 
shepherd's  calling.  As  early  as  the  age  of 
the  patriarchs,  God  is  called  the  Shepherd  of 
Israel  ;  and  in  a  hundred  different  forms 
subsequently  this  thought  recurs,  every 
phase  and  incident  of  the  life  of  the  shepherd 
and  the  life-history  of  the  sheep  being  turned 
to  account,  as  in  the  unspeakably  beautiful 
words  of  Isaiah,  "  He  shall  feed  His  flock 
like  a  shepherd  ;  He  shall  gather  the  lambs 
with  His  arm  and  carry  them  in  His  bosom, 
and  shall  gently  lead  those  that  are  with 
young." 

Here,  then,  we  see  a  distinct  and  prevalent 
habit  of  the  religious  mind.  The  inspired 
teachers  perceived  in  the  common  occupations 
of  daily  life  innumerable  hints  and  sugges- 
tions of  heavenly  truths,  and  they  taught 
those  who  received  their  teaching  to  brood 
upon  these  analogies  as  they  engaged  in 
their  ordinary  occupations. 

20 


The  Good  Shepherd 

Now  this  is  a  precious  habit  ;  and  we  also 
— both  those  who  teach  and  those  who  are 
taught — ought  to  cultivate  it.  The  aspect 
of  our  modern  life  is,  indeed,  very  different 
from  that  ancient  one.  Though  we  still 
have  in  our  population  the  agriculturist,  the 
shepherd,  and  the  fisherman,  we  are  not  an 
agricultural  but  a  commercial  people,  and  we 
have  a  vast  number  of  other  occupations. 
Some  of  these  may  not  be  so  poetical  or 
suggestive  as  the  occupations  of  a  simple 
open-air  existence.  But  many  of  them- 
such  as  the  calling  of  the  builder,  the  banker, 
the  manufacturer,  the  engineer — are  pregnant 
with  instructive  and  impressive  suggestions  ; 
and  there  is  no  occupation  which  is  altogether 
unable  to  yield  such  nutrition  to  the  brood- 
ing mind. 

Existence  is  ennobled  when,  besides  the 
prose  of  mere  loss  and  gain,  its  occupations 
thus  whisper  to  the  heart  the  poetry  of 
spiritual  suggestion  ;  and  our  modern  world 
would  be  a  far  happier  place  if  it  had  poets 
who  could  thus  interpret  the  hidden  mean- 
ing of  common  things.  It  is  not,  indeed, 

21 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

destitute  of  these  ;  but  they  are  required  in 
far  greater  numbers.  I  like  to  think  of  the 
poets  who  are  still  to  be.  There  are  Homers 
and  Shakspeares,  Miltons  and  Burnses,  still 
to  be  born.  The  generations  of  the  future 
will  read  glorious  books  which  we  have 
never  seen,  and  be  inspired  with  songs,  full 
of  melody  and  joy,  which  our  ears  have 
never  heard.  What  these  strains  of  the 
future  will  be  we  can  only  guess  ;  but  no 
office  of  poetry  is  so  valuable  as  that  of 
dignifying  common  life  by  revealing  the 
filaments  by  which  it  is  connected  with  an 
ideal  region — the  life  spiritual  and  eternal. 

Meanwhile,  let  us  be  thankful  for  this, 
that  every  man  is  in  some  degree  a  poet. 
There  is  an  inarticulate  poetry  which  never 
goes  into  words  or  books,  but  warms, 
delights  and  refines  the  soul  in  which  it 
simmers.  The  apprentice  has  it  who,  as  he 
measures  a  yard  of  ribbon  or  sells  a  pound 
of  sugar,  is  thinking  of  how  trade  unites 
the  races  of  the  world  and  makes  all  men 
servants  one  of  another  ;  the  working  man 
has  it  who,  as  he  chisels  a  stone  for  its  place 

22 


The   Good   Shepherd 

in  a  building,  is  thinking  how  the  providence 
of  daily  experience  is  shaping  himself  for  a 
place  in  the  temple  of  God  ;  the  servant  has 
it  who,  as  she  sweeps  a  room  or  scours  a 
vessel,  is  praying  that  her  heart  may  be  a 
clean  abode  for  the  habitation  of  God's  Spirit. 
Even  the  scavenger  may  be  rapt  by  it  out  of 
the  gutter,  where  he  is  employed,  up  to  the 
heavenly  places  ;  and,  if  he  is,  then  in  the 
genuine  attributes  of  manhood  he  far  excels 
the  gentleman  in  broadcloth  who  may  despise 
him,  as  he  passes,  if  the  soul  of  the  latter 
does  not  soar  above  pounds,  shillings  and 
pence. 

2.  A  FRUITFUL  ANALOGY. 

Although  all  lawful  occupations  will  yield 
some  analogies  to  divine  truth,  there  are,  of 
course,  certain  which  are  more  fertile  in  this 
respect  than  others  ;  and  the  religious  lan- 
guage of  all  ages  seems  to  prove  that  in  the 
occupation  of  the  shepherd  such  analogies 
are  particularly  obvious. 

Perhaps,  indeed,  this  was  more  the  case  in 
the  East  than  it  is  in  this  country.  The 


The  Psalm   of  Psalms 

shepherds  of  our  border  hills  are  a  superior 
class  of  men,  and  their  care  for  the  flocks 
entrusted  to  them  is  exemplary,  but  the 
Oriental  shepherd  was  brought  much  nearer 
his  sheep,  and  his  affection  for  them  was 
more  peculiar.  By  two  circumstances  es- 
pecially was  this  demonstrated — the  one, 
the  well-known  fact  that,  instead  of  driv- 
ing his  sheep,  the  Oriental  shepherd  goes 
before  them,  whilst  they  follow  ;  the  other, 
the  fact  that  he  not  only  knows  his  own 
sheep  by  head-mark,  as,  I  suppose,  our 
shepherds  also  do,  but  calls  each  of  them 
by  its  own  name.  In  our  mountains  it  is 
not  unusual  to  see  sheep  on  the  hillside  with 
no  shepherd  in  sight,  especially  where  there 
is  an  enclosing  wall  or  fence,  the  presence  of 
a  shepherd  being  not  always  necessary.  But 
in  the  East,  sheep  are  never  seen  without  the 
shepherd.  In  Eastern  fields  there  are  no 
fences,  and  danger  is  never  far  off:  the  wolf 
or  the  panther  may  be  prowling  about,  or 
the  robber  from  the  desert  may  be  on  the 
watch.  Our  shepherds  go  out  in  the  morn- 
ing with  nothing  but  plaid  and  staff ;  but  in 

24 


The  Good   Shepherd 

the  East,  even  at  the  present  day,  the  shep- 
herd goes  afield  armed  to  the  teeth  with 
gun,  sword,  or  other  weapons  ;  and  it  is  no 
very  unusual  incident  for  a  shepherd  actually 
to  sacrifice  his  life  for  his  flock. 

Of  course  all  shepherds  are  not  alike 
faithful  or  affectionate  ;  but  we  can  easily 
believe  that  David  was  an  ideal  shepherd. 
We  remember  how  he  slew  the  lion  and  the 
bear  by  which  his  flock  had  been  attacked  ; 
and,  even  if  we  were  unacquainted  with 
these  incidents,  we  could  imagine  how  his 
generous  heart  would  have  gone  out  to  the 
creatures  under  his  charge,  and  how  his 
courage  would  have  prompted  him  to  sacri- 
fice himself  for  their  protection.  We  may 
be  certain  of  this,  too,  that  the  intensity  of 
David's  fidelity  became  to  him  an  inter- 
preter of  God's  faithfulness  to  those  over 
whose  welfare  He  had  pledged  Himself  to 
watch.  In  the  same  way,  it  is  the  man  who 
is  himself  the  most  affectionate  and  loyal 
father  who  best  knows  what  is  meant  by  the 
fatherhood  of  God.  And  in  general,  we  may 
lay  down  the  rule  that  it  is  the  man  who 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

loves  his  occupation  and  is  doing  his  daily 
work  with  all  his  might  who  will  best  per- 
ceive the  divine  lessons  it  is  fitted  to  teach. 

The  shepherd's  care  of  his  sheep  begins 
with  the  most  elementary  wants  of  existence, 
but  it  mounts  up,  through  successive  stages 
of  attention  and  kindness,  till  it  may  cul- 
minate in  the  sacrifice  of  his  life  on  their 
behalf.  At  every  step  this  has  its  counter- 
part in  God  :  we  are  dependent  on  Him  for 
our  daily  bread  ;  and  upon  numerous  steps 
the  tale  of  His  grace  has  to  be  told,  till  we 
come  to  the  astounding  fact  that  "  the  Good 
Shepherd  giveth  His  life  for  the  sheep." 

Thus  the  relation  of  God  to  the  soul  of 
man  is  attractively  and  suggestively  set  forth 
by  the  relation  of  the  shepherd  to  the  sheep. 
Perhaps  on  the  opposite  side — the  relation 
of  the  soul  to  God,  which  is  the  other  half  of 
religion — the  analogy  is  not  so  serviceable. 

Here  also,  indeed,  there  are  pathetic  hints 
of  the  truth.  The  sheep  has  a  tendency  to 
stray  and  lose  itself.  So  all  we,  like  sheep, 
have  gone  astray  ;  we  have  turned  every  one 
to  his  own  way. 

26 


The  Good  Shepherd 

There  are  some  animals,  such  as  the  dog, 
which,  though  lost,  have  a  remarkable  faculty 
of  finding  their  way  home.  The  sheep  is, 
however,  I  should  think,  deficient  in  this 
kind  of  intelligence  :  if  lost,  it  has  no  in- 
stinct for  finding  itself  again.  Here  also,  it 
may  be  said,  the  analogy  holds.  When  man 
lost  God,  he  would  never  of  his  own  accord 
have  come  home.  God  had  to  come  after 
him. 

But  none  of  the  righteous  ever  knew 

How  deep  were  the  waters  crossed, 
Or  how  dark  was  the  night  that  the  Lord  passed  through. 
Ere  He  found  the  sheep  that  was  lost. 
Out  in  the  desert  He  heard  its  cry, 
Sick  and  helpless  and  ready  to  die. 

Lord,  whence  are  those  blood  drops  all  the  way 

That  mark  out  the  mountain  track  ? 
They  were  shed  for  one  who   had  gone  astray, 
Ere  the  Shepherd  could  bring  him  back. 

Lord,  whence  are  Thy  hands  so  rent  and  torn? 
They  were  pierced  tonight  by  many  a  thorn. 

As  we  say  this  of  the  human  race  as  a  whole, 
so  of  every  individual  soul  it  may  be  said 
that  it  never  could  and  never  would  have 

27 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

returned  of  its  own  accord.  God  has  to 
send  forth  His  Spirit  to  seek,  to  strive  and 
persuade.  "  No  man  can  come  unto  Me, 
except  the  Father,  which  hath  sent  Me,  draw 
him." 

But  the  responsibility  of  man  to  yield  to 
these  strivings  of  God's  Spirit,  and  his  free- 
dom either  to  continue  in  sin  or  to  come 
home  to  God,  are  very  imperfectly  repre- 
sented by  anything  in  the  case  of  the  sheep. 
So  especially  is  the  choice  by  which  we  turn 
away  from  all  other  masters  and  acknowledge 
God  as  our  own  God — the  most  important 
moment  of  religion  on  man's  side. 

There  are  also  other  points  at  which  the 
relation  of  the  sheep  to  the  shepherd  does 
not  express  very  well  the  relation  of  the  soul 
to  God.  But  of  nearly  all  analogies  the 
same  is  true — they  illustrate  only  a  limited 
number  of  points,  while  at  other  points  they 
break  down.  And  our  wisdom  is  to  bring 
into  the  light  those  aspects  of  the  truth 
which  an  image  fairly  illustrates,  letting  the 
others  fall  into  the  background.  The  image 

o  o 

of  the  shepherd  and  the  sheep  illustrates  so 

28 


The  Good   Shepherd 

many  points  so  well  that  there  is  no  need  of 
forcing  it  to  do  work  for  which  it  was  not 
intended. 

3.  A  GOLDEN  PROMISE. 

The  first  inference  drawn  from  the  great 
statement  "The  Lord  is  my  shepherd,"  is, 
"I  shall  not  want."  This  is  merely  nega- 
tive ;  yet  how  priceless  it  is  !  In  the 
strength  of  such  a  promise  a  pilgrim  might 
almost  travel  the  whole  way. 

Many  people  are  haunted  all  their  days 
with  the  fear  of  want ;  and,  although  they 
have  no  real  trouble  today,  they  are  con- 
tinually borrowing  it  from  tomorrow,  and 
so  allowing  their  entire  existence  to  be  over- 
shadowed. Many  even  of  the  young  are 
haunted  with  the  dread  that,  however  well 
they  may  live  and  however  honestly  they 
may  work,  the  world  may  have  no  room  for 
them  and  may  not  even  afford  them  their 
daily  bread.  But  this  is  a  morbid  and  un- 
believing state  of  mind,  and  not  in  accord- 
ance with  facts.  Society  is  always  in  need 
of  upright  men  and  women  and  honest 

29 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

workers,  and  does  not  grudge  them  their 
wages.  The  fact  that  we  have  been  brought 
into  existence  is  a  proof  that  we  are  needed  ; 
and  the  likelihood  is  strong  that  a  sufficient 
share  of  what  is  required  to  sustain  existence 
will  be  ours,  if  we  are  willing  to  do  our  part 
to  deserve  our  place.  This  is  the  cheerful 
philosophy  of  Jesus  Himself :  "  Consider 
the  lilies  of  the  field  how  they  grow  :  they 
toil  not  neither  do  they  spin  ;  and  yet  I  say 
unto  you  that  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was 
not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.  Wherefore, 
if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which 
today  is,  and  tomorrow  is  cast  into  the 
oven,  shall  He  not  much  more  clothe  you, 
O  ye  of  little  faith  ?  Behold  the  fowls  of 
the  air  :  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they 
reap,  nor  gather  into  barns  ;  yet  your 
Heavenly  Father  feedeth  them.  Are  ye 
not  much  better  than  they  ? ' 

Can  we  say,  then,  that  poverty  never  can 
overtake  the  godly  ?  I  once  heard  the  late 
Mr.  Spurgeon,  in  his  own  church,  read  a 
psalm  in  which  this  verse  occurs  :  "  I  have 
been  young  and  now  am  old,  yet  have  I  not 

30 


The  Good   Shepherd 

seen  the  righteous  forsaken,  or  his  seed 
begging  bread."  After  reading  the  verse, 
he  paused  and  remarked,  "  David,  being  a 
king,  may  never  have  seen  this  spectacle  ; 
but  I,  being  a  minister  and  better  acquainted 
with  poor  people,  have  seen  it  often."  That 
was  a  very  bold  statement.  Let  me  quote 
to  you  another  of  an  opposite  tenor.  I  was 
once  walking  through  a  poorhouse  with  the 
manager,  a  wise  and  kindly  man,  and,  being 
pained  with  what  I  had  seen,  I  said  to  him, 
"Tell  me,  now,  what:  proportion  of  the  in- 
mates of  this  house  have  been  well-doing 
people,  and  have  been  brought  here  by  no 
fault  of  their  own."  "  Well,"  he  answered, 
"  I  know  them  all  well,  and  I  am  acquainted 
with  their  histories,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
there  is  not  a  single  one  of  the  sort  you  have 
indicated." 

These  are  widely  discrepant  statements, 
and  perhaps  both  of  them  might  mislead. 
An  enormous  quantity  of  abject  poverty-- 
probably  a  far  larger  proportion  of  it  than  in 
the  present  temper  of  the  public  mind  would 
be  readily  believed- MS  due  to  vice;  in  our 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

own  society  it  is  especially  due  to  drunken- 
ness. Character  and  well-doing,  on  the 
contrary,  usually  lift  at  least  to  the  level  of 
honest  poverty,  with  which  the  dignity  and 
sunshine  of  life  are  not  incompatible.  Be- 
sides, where  character  and  well-doing  are, 
there  is  the  power  to  rally  against  mis- 
fortune :  poverty  may  crush  for  a  time,  but 
the  God-fearing  spirit  will  rise  above  it,  and 
life  will  improve  as  it  proceeds.  On  the 
other  hand,  however,  modern  society  is  so 
complex  that  many  have  to  suffer  for  the 
wrong-doing  of  others ;  and  it  would  be 
blind  and  cruel  to  doubt  that  sometimes  the 
deserving  may  sink  into  destitution,  and 
that  in  the  almshouse,  and  even  the  poor- 
house,  there  are  saints  of  God. 

What  do  these  exceptional  cases  prove  ? 
Do  they  prove  that  sometimes  God's 
promise  fails  ?  If  we  look  to  Jesus,  we 
shall  understand  the  mystery.  Though  He 
spoke  so  cheerfully  of  God's  good  provi- 
dence, yet  He  had  to  say  Himself,  "  Foxes 
have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have 
nests  ;  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where 

32 


The  Good   Shepherd 

to  lay  His  head";  and  He  died  forsaken 
and  outcast.  Still,  through  all,  He  kept  His 
eye  fixed  on  God  and  never  doubted  that 
out  of  the  darkest  misfortune  He  would 
cause  to  be  born  a  higher  good.  Nor  was 
He  disappointed ;  for  out  of  His  bitter 
shame  has  come  His  exaltation,  and  out  of 
His  loss  and  suffering  the  salvation  of  the 
world.  So  out  of  the  mysteries  of  God's 
providence  will  there  be  born  glorious  sur- 
prises for  His  other  children  also.  His 
resources  are  not  exhausted  in  this  life  : 
even  after  death  He  can  still  justify  Him- 
self. If  God  causes  any  of  His  saints  to 
want  one  thing,  it  is  only  that  He  may  give 
a  better. 

Deep  in  unfathomable  mines 

Of  never-failing  skill 
He  treasures  up  His  bright  designs 

And  works  His  sovereign  will. 

Ye  fearful  saints,  fresh  courage  take, 
The  clouds  ye  so  much  dread 

Are  big  with  mercy  and  will  break 
In  blessing  on  your  head. 


33 


REST 


35 


REST 

VERSE  SECOND. 

M  He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures ; 
He  leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters." 

AFTER,  in  verse  I,  announcing  the  theme  of 
the  Psalm  to  be  a  comparison  between  the 
Lord's  care  of  His  people  and  a  shepherd's 
care  of  his  flock,  the  sacred  poet  goes  on  to 
illustrate  the  different  kinds  of  fortune 
through  which  human  beings  pass  and  in 
which  they  experience  the  divine  care  and 
sympathy  ;  and  each  of  these  is  illustrated 
by  a  corresponding  situation  in  the  history 
of  the  sheep  under  the  shepherd's  guidance. 
Life  is  full  of  transitions  and  vicissitudes  ; 
sometimes  it  is  in  sunshine,  sometimes  in 
shadow  ;  sometimes  it  is  on  the  heights, 
sometimes  in  the  depths  ;  but  in  every  one 

37 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

of  its  varying  phases  God  is  still  at  hand, 
watching  over  His  own  and  doing  all  things 
well. 

The  imperial  singer  begins  with  prosperity, 
of  which  he  gives  this  picture  taken  from  the 
pastoral  life  :  "  He  maketh  me  lie  down  in 
green  pastures  ;  He  leadeth  me  beside  the 
still  waters."  This  is,  as  someone  has  said, 
the  most  complete  picture  of  happiness  that 
ever  was  or  can  be  drawn. 

But  why  does  he  begin  with  this  ?  Why 
does  he  describe  the  experience  of  pro- 
sperity before  that  of  adversity  ?  Someone 
has  answered,  Because  it  is  the  commoner 
state.  The  lot  of  God's  people  is,  on  the 
whole,  one  of  happiness.  Seasons  of  suffer- 
ing there  are,  indeed  ;  and  they  are  vividly 
remembered — just  as  an  obstruction  in  a  river 
makes  a  great  show  and  causes  a  great  noise  ; 
but  the  life  of  the  Christian  is  for  the  most 
part  like  a  tranquil  stream,  which  flows  deep 
and  does  not  invite  attention. 

Lord  Bacon  has  the  aphorism  that,  while 
prosperity  was  the  promise  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, adversity  is  the  blessing  of  the  New. 

38 


Rest 

But  is  this  true  ?  There  are  doubtless  many 
weighty  words  of  the  New  Testament  which 
speak  of  the  cross  which  Christians  must 
bear  and  the  persecutions  they  may  have 
to  suffer  :  "  Whosoever  doth  not  bear  his 
cross  and  come  after  Me,  cannot  be  My 
disciple''  ;  "Marvel  not  if  the  world  hateth 
you  ;  ye  know  that  it  hated  Me  before  it 
hated  you/'  Such  words  abound  among  the 
sayings  of  our  Lord  and  His  apostles.  But 
they  do  not  stand  alone  ;  and,  when  quoted 
alone,  they  convey  a  misleading  impression. 
What  said  the  Master  Himself?  "Verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  there  is  no  man  who  hath 
left  house,  or  brethren  or  sisters,  or  father 
or  mother,  or  wife  or  children,  for  My  sake 
and  the  gospel's,  but  he  shall  receive  a 
hundredfold  more  in  this  time,  houses,  and 
brethren  and  sisters,  and  mothers  and  chil- 
dren, and  lands,  with  persecutions  ;  and  in 
the  world  to  come  eternal  life."  Similarly 
an  apostle  declares  :  "  Godliness  is  profitable 
unto  all  things,  having  promise  of  the  life 
which  now  is  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 
The  New  Testament  is  not  a  sadder  book 

39 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

than  the  Old  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  far  more 
sunny  and  melodious  ;  and  this  is  not  only 
because  the  misery  of  the  present  life  is  to 
be  compensated  by  the  felicity  of  the  life  to 
come,  but  this  life  itself  is  a  happy  one. 

The  world's  no  blank  to  us 
Nor  blot ;  it  means  intensely,  and  means  good. 

I.  TEMPORAL  PROSPERITY. 

This  is  true  in  regard  to  temporal  pro- 
sperity. The  tendency  of  things  is  to  throw 
into  the  lap  of  God's  people  the  best  blessings 
even  of  this  earthly  life. 

What  are  these  ?  Health  is  one  of  them. 
This  is  a  fundamental  blessing,  on  which 
many  more  depend.  All  sights  look  dreary 
when  seen  through  the  jaundiced  eyes  of 
disease,  and  all  pleasures  are  tasteless  when 
they  touch  an  unhealthy  palate.  But,  when 
the  blood  is  flowing  limpidly  through  the 
veins  and  the  brain  is  fresh  and  unclogged, 
God's  glorious  world,  with  its  sights  and 
sounds,  gratifies  the  senses  and  awakens 
desire  ;  things  have  their  natural  taste,  and 

40 


Rest 

the  simple  elements  of  life  are  enough  to 
satisfy  without  the  condiment  of  artificial 
pleasure.  Now,  health  is  most  likely  to  be 
the  heritage  of  those  who  obey  the  laws  of 
God.  By  the  excesses  of  an  ungoverned 
youth,  many  are  sowing  in  their  own  bodily 
constitution  the  seeds  of  a  debilitated  man- 
hood and  an  early  death.  They  are  burning 
out  in  themselves  the  very  sense  for  natural 
pleasure  and  creating  the  necessity  for  arti- 
ficial stimulation,  which  loses  its  effect  the 
oftener  it  is  applied.  Those  who  listen  to 
the  voice  of  God  and  follow  the  path  of 
virtue  may  be  scoffed  at,  because,  during 
the  opportunities  of  youth,  they  do  not 
follow  the  hot  and  highly  seasoned  pleasures 
which  others  pursue  ;  but  their  enjoyment 
lasts  longer,  and  at  the  period  when  others 
are  falling  bankrupt  they  are  coming  into 
the  full  enjoyment  of  their  heritage. 

Another  of  the  best  blessings  of  life  is 
love.  It  is  by  the  heart  mainly  that  human 
beings  are  made  blessed  or  miserable  ;  and 
it  is  a  notable  evidence  of  the  equality  of 
nature  that  love  is  restricted  to  no  class  or 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

grade  of  culture  or  fortune.  The  poorest 
may  feel  the  glow  of  pure  affection  and  be 
loyal  to  the  vows  of  friendship.  Love 
culminates  in  the  home,  and  he  who  pos- 
sesses a  happy  home,  where  the  hunger  of 
the  heart  is  satisfied  and  the  voice  of  inno- 
cent mirth  is  heard,  has  not  missed  the  best 
which  this  earthly  life  can  yield.  But  to 
whom  does  the  blessing  of  love  belong  ? 
Many  prostitute  the  name  by  applying  it 
to  indulgences  which  make  true  love  im- 
possible ;  for  impurity  "  hardens  a'  within 
and  petrifies  the  feeling."  He  who  wastes 
his  youth  is  robbing  himself  beforehand  of 
the  power  of  giving  to  a  pure  woman,  should 
he  be  so  fortunate  as  to  win  the  love  of  such 
a  one,  heart  for  heart ;  he  is  robbing  himself 
beforehand  of  the  power  of  looking  in  his 
children's  faces  unashamed  ;  and  it  is  more 
than  possible  that  his  offspring  may  have  to 
pay  with  lives  of  misery  the  penalty  of  his 
sin.  If  the  glory  of  friendship  is  that  each 
friend  knows  the  other  to  be  absolutely 
transparent  and  true  ;  if  love  is  the  exchange 
of  hearts  which  have  been  kept  for  one 

42 


Rest 

another  unspent  and  undefiled  ;  if  home  is, 
as  has  been  said,  the  one  bit  of  Paradise  left 
in  a  fallen  world  ;  then  is  the  gift  of  love,  in 
all  its  perfection  and  splendour,  peculiarly  the 
heritage  of  those  who  have  taken  God's  law 
and, Christ's  will  as  the  rule  of  their  life. 

Another  of  these  blessings  is  business 
success.  Of  this,  indeed,  too  high  an 
estimate  may  be  formed.  In  a  business 
community  financial  success  is  deified,  and 
multitudes,  though  perhaps  they  are  hardly 
aware  of  the  fact,  worship  no  other  God. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  possible  to  de- 
preciate success  too  much.  Business  is,  by 
the  allotment  of  Providence,  that  to  which 
the  majority  have  to  devote  the  most  of 
their  time  and  the  best  of  their  strength. 
To  depreciate  it,  therefore,  as  if  it  did  not 
matter  whether  or  not  a  man  did  it  with 
all  his  might,  is  only  to  confuse  the  mind 
and  perplex  the  conscience.  Business  is  a 
providential  school  of  virtue,  in  which  man- 
hood is  developed  and  the  natural  powers 
are  exercised,  and  success  is,  as  a  rule,  the 
evidence  that  we  have  not  been  faithless  or 

45 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

laggard  scholars.  To  whom  does  success 
fall  ?  Some  would  answer,  To  the  selfish 
and  unscrupulous  —  to  those  who  mind 
Number  One  and  never  hesitate  to  fling 
down  or  trample  on  a  competitor,  and  to 
those  who,  when  occasion  requires,  can, 
without  flinching,  stoop  to  falsehood.  Alas, 
there  are  too  many  facts  which  might  be 
adduced  in  support  of  such  a  view  of  busi- 
ness. Yet  it  is  a  partial  view,  and  there  is 
a  vast  body  of  facts  on  die  opposite  side. 
Unscrupulousness  sometimes  succeeds,  and 
often  quite  eclipses  honesty  in  the  rapidity 
with  which  it  reaches  the  goal ;  but  its  pro- 
sperity is  frequently  short-lived  and  its 
hollowness  is  exposed  at  last.  Character  tells 
in  business.  It  may  not  do  so  today,  but 
it  will  tomorrow.  "The  meek,'1  said  our 
Lord,  "  shall  inherit  the  earth/'  It  seems  a 
paradox  ;  for  are  not  the  meek  thrust  aside 
and  trampled  in  an  age  like  ours  by  the 
pushing  and  self-assertive  ?  Yes,  they  are  ; 
but  their  turn  comes.  The  gilt  of  preten- 
tious talents  is  soon  rubbed  o£F,  and  then 
what  it  has  covered  looks  shabby  ;  but  the 

44 


Rest 

solid  gold  of  character  shines  more  and  more 
the  longer  it  is  rubbed,  and  in  due  time  its 

o  * 

value  is  acknowledged.  There  are  those  who 
will  tell  you  that  the  Decalogue  is  abrogated 
in  the  business-world,  and  that  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  though  beautiful  to  read  in 
a  castle-in-the-air,  has  no  meaning  in  the 
market-place.  But  the  Decalogue  and  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  have  a  way  of  living 
on,  whilst  their  critics  pass  away.  Some 
men  also  venture  to  take  these  rules  into  the 
market-place  ;  and  the  God  who  made  the 
Decalogue  and  the  Christ  who  preached  the 
Sermon  do  not  allow  them  to  be  put  to  shame. 
Some  possess  all  these  blessings  of  the 
earthly  life  which  I  have  mentioned  and 
many  more  besides.  They  have  the  gift 
of  health  ;  they  have  known  love  in  all  its 
sweet,  pure  forms  ;  their  friends  are  warm 
and  true  ;  their  home  is  a  scene  of  tranquillity 
in  which  they  find  refuge  from  the  turmoils 
of  the  world  ;  their  children  are  affectionate 
and  well-doing  ;  and  God  has  so  blessed  the 
labour  of  their  hands  that  they  have  never 
lacked  bread  to  eat  or  raiment  to  put  on. 

45 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

The  lines  have  fallen  unto  them  in  pleasant 
places.  Theirs  is  the  condition  our  text 
describes  :  "  He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in 
green  pastures  ;  He  leadeth  me  beside  the 
still  waters." 

God  has  given  these  gifts.  With  what 
effect  on  the  relation  between  your  soul  and 
Him  ?  It  is  an  astonishing  thing  how  often 
in  Scripture  spiritual  improvement  is  ascribed 
to  affliction  and  misfortune.  "Before  I  was 
afflicted  I  went  astray,  but  now  I  have  learned 
thy  law."  "Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He 
chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom 
He  receiveth."  In  experience,  too,  we  find 
that  religious  improvement  is  closely  con- 
nected with  suffering.  Hundreds  of  times 
we  have  heard  of  sinners  being  converted  by 
a  severe  illness  or  a  great  bereavement ;  but 
who  ever  heard  of  a  man  being  converted 
by  a  windfall  of  good  fortune  ?  It  is  not 
creditable  that  we  are  thus  dependent  for 
our  religion  on  the  withdrawal  of  temporal 
blessings  and  so  little  affected  by  the  pos- 
session of  them. 

I  do  not,  however,  believe  that  loss  alone 


Rest 

sanctifies.  Happiness  does  so  too.  A  heart 
made  happy  by  pure  love  is  not  far  from 
the  kingdom  of  God.  The  coming  of  a 
child  into  a  family  sometimes  opens  the  door 
for  Christ.  Prosperity  in  business  breeds 
liberality  in  giving.  Only,  such  virtues 
ought  far  oftener  to  spring  from  God's 
goodness.  Many  of  us,  if  we  would  only, 
in  a  sequestered  hour,  look  back  on  the  way 
we  have  been  led,  and  look  round  on  the 
ample  and  sunny  heritage  in  which  God  has 
placed  us,  could  see  a  thousand  reasons 
for  clinging  with  boundless  gratitude  and 
loyalty  to  Him  and  to  the  kingdom  of  His 
Son. 

2.  SPIRITUAL  PROSPERITY. 

When,  however,  the  psalmist  says,  "Thou 
makest  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures, 
Thou  leadest  me  beside  the  still  waters,"  he 
cannot  be  referring  to  temporal  blessings 
alone  :  this  is  also  a  description  of  the  life 
spiritual. 

Valuable  as  temporal  blessings  are,  a 
Christian  must  hold  them  with  a  lic^ht  hand 

o 

47 


The   Psalm  of  Psalms 

and  be  ready  to  sacrifice  them  for  the  sake  of 
the  integrity  of  the  life  within.  Christians 
have,  in  fact,  often  thus  sacrificed  every 
worldly  possession  and  every  worldly  prospect 
and  laid  down  even  life  itself.  A  Christian 
lives  in  the  world  like  other  men  ;  he  attends 
to  business  and  derives  profits  from  it ;  he 
enjoys  the  delight  of  friendship  and  the 
comfort  of  home  ;  yet  he  has,  at  the  same 
time,  a  life  which  ordinary  men  of  the  world 
have  not — a  life  remote  and  solitary,  hid  with 
Christ  in  God.  A  portion  of  human  nature 
which  in  other  men  is  dormant  has  in  him 
been  awakened  ;  he  is  in  living  intercourse 
with  the  world  unseen  ;  the  powers  of  his 
spirit  are  in  activity,  going  forth  towards 
their  proper  objects — to  God,  to  Christ,  to 
truth,  to  eternity. 

Now  this  spiritual  life,  taken  as  a  whole, 
is  a  supremely  happy  life,  and  brings  fresh 
currents  of  joy  into  the  being.  So  volumin- 
ous are  these  that  they  are  able  to  make  up 
for  the  loss  of  ordinary  temporal  comforts 
and  enjoyments.  Look  at  a  man  like  St. 
Paul.  He  lost  much  by  being  a  Christian  ; 


Rest 

he  suffered  much  ;  but  was  he  an  unhappy 
man  ?  On  the  contrary,  an  exuberant  life 
throbs  in  all  his  movements,  and  an  irrepres- 
sible joy  rings,  like  a  peal  of  bells,  in  all  his 
writings. 

'What  are  the  enjoyments  of  this  hidden 
life  ? 

One  of  them  is  love.  I  have  already 
spoken  of  the  deep  pleasure  of  ordinary 
human  love.  But  the  heart  of  man  has  been 
fashioned  with  the  capacity  for  a  love 
profounder  and  nobler  than  the  love  of 
friend  or  father,  wife  or  child.  We  are 
capable  of  loving  God  and  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ.  In  many  hearts  this  is  a  capacity 
and  nothing  more,  just  as  other  forms  of 
affection  may  never  reach  their  realisation. 
Many  do  not  love  God  ;  they  do  not  love 
the  Saviour.  But  where  this  divine  affection 
is  awakened  into  activity,  it  is  not  only  the 
most  sacred  and  influential,  but  also  the  most 
delightful  and  satisfying  emotion  which  the 
heart  can  know.  If  to  love  another  human 
being,  and  to  know  that  you  are  held  dear  by 
another  human  heart,  be  one  of  the  crowning 
D  49 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

experiences  of  life,  what  must  it  be  to  love 
God  and  to  know  that  you  are  held  dear  in 
the  heart  of  Christ  ? 

It  is  almost  choosing  at  random  from  a 
wide  field  of  selection,  when  I  mention  as 
another  of  the  enjoyments  of  the  interior  life 
delight  in  the  Word  of  God.  I  mention 
this  because  the  words  of  our  text  have  often 
been  applied  to  it.  When  enjoying  revealed 
truth,  Christians  often  speak  of  themselves 
as  lying  down  in  green  pastures  and  being 
led  beside  still  waters.  Thus  one  says, 
"What  are  these  green  pastures  but  the 
Scriptures  of  truth — always  fresh,  always 
rich,  and  never  exhausted  ?  Sweet  and  full 
are  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  fit  food  for 
souls,  as  tender  grass  is  nutriment  for 
sheep.  When  by  faith  we  are  enabled  to 
find  rest  in  the  promises,  we  are  like  the 
sheep  that  lie  down  in  the  midst  of  pastures  ; 
we  find  at  the  same  moment  both  provender 
and  peace,  rest  and  refreshment,  serenity  and 
satisfaction."  There  are  those  who  read  the 
Bible  and  enjoy  it  for  its  literary  qualities 
alone  ;  and,  indeed,  by  its  profundity  of 

50 


Rest 

thought  and  beauty  of  diction,  it  is  placed  at 
the  head  of  all  literature.  But  the  delight  of 
a  spiritual  mind  in  it  is  deeper  :  the  Bible  is 
one  of  the  principal  means  through  which  it 
maintains  its  connexion  and  intercourse  with 
the  divine  heart  which  it  loves. 

Let  me  name  but  one  more  enjoyment  of 
the  hidden  life — the  bliss  of  doing  good. 
This  bliss  is  not,  indeed,  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  spiritual.  There  are  those 
who,  from  natural  goodness  of  heart  or  the 
influence  of  good  tradition  and  training,  care 
continually  for  the  welfare  of  their  neigh- 
bours ;  and  none  can  do  so,  whatever  be 
their  motives,  without  having  a  rich  blessing 
returned  into  their  own  bosoms.  But  the 
passion  of  doing  good  belongs  peculiarly  to 
Christians.  They  have  learned  it  from 
Christ.  Looking  on  their  fellow-men  through 
His  eyes,  they  perceive  both  their  infinite 
worth  and  their  immeasurable  danger. 
Having  received  salvation  themselves,  they 
feel  an  instinctive  desire  to  communicate  the 
secret  to  others.  In  this  work  many  emotions 
are  stirred,  some  of  them  painful  and  some 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

pleasurable.  It  is  work  which  is  liable  to 
encounter  opposition  ;  and  the  opposition 
may  wax  deadly.  But,  on  the  whole,  the 
reward  of  such  work  is  great.  No  man  ever 
yet  exerted  himself  for  the  temporal  and 
eternal  welfare  of  others  without  being  him- 
self enriched.  And,  when  the  work  is 
successful,  and  men  and  women  are  saved, 
and  they  pour  their  gratitude  on  our 
heads,  who  can  measure  the  joy  3  It  is  worth 
living  for,  to  be  made  the  instrumentality 
through  which  has  been  wrought  an  immortal 
good. 

This  is  what  some  would  call,  not  without 
a  touch  of  contempt,  the  hedonistic  or 
eudasmonistic  aspect  of  Christianity ;  and 
they  would  deprecate  the  emphasizing  of  this 
pleasurable  element  in  religion.  Better,  they 
would  say,  emphasize  the  sober  fact  that 
religion  is  a  duty  to  be  done,  a  yoke  to  be 
felt,  a  cross  to  bear.  I  do  not,  however, 
think  so.  Let  each  side  of  the  truth  have  its 
turn.  And,  after  all,  Christianity  must 
always  be  far  more  a  gift  from  God  to  man 
than  a  gift  from  man  to  God. 

52 


Rest 

It  is  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  pro- 
claim and  reiterate  that  the  blessedness  of 
man  is  hidden  at  the  centre  of  his  own  being  : 
it  lies  in  the  opening  up  of  the  hidden  world 
of  the  spirit,  into  which  Christianity  invites 
him.  It  is  there  that  man  meets  God  and 
enters  into  the  fulness  of  salvation  by  Jesus 
Christ.  Let  no  one  leave  the  world  without 
seeing  the  one  vision  it  contains,  or  die 
without  ever  having  lived. 


DISCIPLINE 


DISCIPLINE 

VERSE  THIRD. 

"  He  restoreth  my  soul ; 

He  leadeth  me  in  the  paths  of  righteousness  for  His 
name's  sake." 

IN  the  Twenty-third  Psalm  the  different  kinds 
of  experience  through  which  the  people  of 
God  pass  are  set  forth  by  different  incidents 
in  the  life  of  a  flock  of  sheep.  The  point 
is,  that  the  shepherd  is  always  present  and 
watchful,  consulting  for  the  welfare  of  the 
creatures  committed  to  his  care  ;  and  in  the 
same  way  God  is  with  His  people  in  every 
variety  of  fortune,  seeing  to  it  that  all  things 
work  together  for  their  good.  Verse  2  is  a 
perfect  picture  of  prosperity  ;  but  verse  3  is 
a  picture  of  adversity. 

57 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

i.  THE  FAINTING-FITS  OF  THE  SOUL. 

"He  restoreth  my  soul,"  says  the  sacred 
singer.  But  this  implies  that  the  soul  is  in 
need  of  restoration.  The  picture  is  that  of  a 
sheep  which,  through  heat  and  fatigue,  has 
fainted  away,  or  is  on  the  point  of  breathing 
out  its  life  ;  but  the  good  shepherd,  by 
administering  a  restorative  in  the  nick  of 
time,  brings  back  the  departing  breath. 
Here  we  have  a  totally  different  picture  from 
that  of  verse  2.  There  the  sheep  was  in 
green  pastures  ;  all  was  sunshine  and 
happiness  ;  life  was  enjoyable  and  abundant. 
But  here  life  is  at  the  lowest  ebb  ;  and  the 
sheep  has  fainted  away. 

There  are  such  contrasts  in  experience. 
Life  has  its  sunshine,  but  it  has  also  its 
shadow.  There  are  days  of  prosperity,  when 
the  tides  swell  the  channel  of  life  from  bank 
to  brae  ;  but  there  are  also  times  of  adversity, 
when  the  pulse  of  life  is  low  and  hope  has 
almost  died  out  of  the  heart. 

This  is  the  case  even  in  the  Christian  life. 
On  the  whole,  it  is  a  life  of  joy — it  is  the 

58 


Discipline 

happiest  of  all  lives — yet  it  has  its  seasons 
of  faintness  and  despair,  when  the  cordials 
and  restoratives  of  the  Good  Shepherd  are 
required. 

What  are  the  reasons  for  these  fainting 
times  ? 

First  of  all,  a  Christian  is  exposed,  like 
other  men,  to  the  misfortunes  and  calamities 
of  the  human  lot.  There  is  a  passage  of 
Scripture  which  says  that  God  maketh  His 
sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and 
sendeth  His  rain  on  the  just  and  unjust  : 
there  are  certain  common  blessings  in  which 

o 

all  participate,  whatever  be  their  character. 
But  the  converse  is  also  true,  that  there  are 
common  misfortunes  from  which  none  escape, 
be  their  character  what  it  may.  The  light- 
ning strikes  the  roof  of  sinner  and  saint 
indiscriminately ;  a  bad  harvest  destroys  the 
crops  of  good  and  bad  alike  ;  bad  times  blight 
the  business  of  the  honest  as  well  as  of  the 
dishonest  ;  illness  and  death  are  incident  to 
all  the  children  of  men.  At  many  points, 
indeed,  godliness  will  supply  alleviations  of 
even  such  common  calamities  :  when  an 

59 


The   Psalm  of  Psalms 

epidemic  is  raging,  the  steady  man's  chances 
of  recovery  are  much  greater  than  those  of 
him  who  has  wasted  his  constitution  by 
dissipation  ;  and,  in  times  when  trade  fails, 
the  industrious  and  saving  have  generally 
something  to  fall  back  on,  whereas  the  reckless, 
who  live  from  hand  to  mouth,  are  thrown  on 
the  rocks  at  once.  Still  there  is  in  this  world 
a  mysterious  body  of  evil  from  which  none 
can  altogether  escape.  "  Man  is  born  to 
trouble  as  the  sparks  fly  upwards,"  and,  the 
more  complicated  life  becomes,  through  the 
crowding  of  population,  the  more  is  the 
individual  exposed  to  suffering  for  which  he 
is  not  directly  responsible. 

Further,  however,  Christians  are  exposed 
to  suffering  through  the  very  fact  that  they 
are  Christians.  Christ  had  to  warn  His  first 
followers  that  they  would  be  hated  of  all  men 
for  His  sake.  "Yea,  the  time  cometh,"  He 
said,  "  when  whosoever  killeth  you  will  think 
he  doeth  God  service."  In  many  ages  this 
has  been  literally  fulfilled,  as  is  proved  by 
the  religious  persecutions  of  ancient  and 
modern  times.  Nor  has  the  offence  of  the 

60 


Discipline 


cross  ever  ceased.  Public  persecution  has, 
indeed,  ceased,  but  private  persecution  still 
continues  ;  and  it  is  sometimes  harder  to 
bear.  The  natural  heart  is  still  unchanged  ; 
and  it  resents  the  disturbance  to  its  self-com- 
placency caused  by  the  presence  and  the 
criticism  of  the  followers  of  Jesus.  In  the 
archives  of  the  Church  we  have  our  books  of 
martyrs,  and  these  are  by  no  means  all 
written  yet ;  but  the  unwritten  persecutions 
are  infinitely  vaster  in  their  proportions,  and 
they  form  one  of  the  causes  from  which  the 
flock  of  God  faints. 

There  are,  however,  deeper  causes  still. 
The  Christian  life  has  its  own  special  pains 
and  secret  crosses.  A  Christian  is  a  man 
who  has  seen  an  ideal  :  Christ  is  his  ideal, 
and  the  life  of  Christ  is  the  model  with  which 
he  is  always  comparing  his  own.  This  breeds 
a  divine  discontent  ;  he  despises  himself  ;  he 
is  often  in  despair  because  he  has  fallen 
beneath  what  he  ought  to  be.  Perhaps  he 
has  been  on  the  heights  of  communion, 
inspiration  and  holiness  ;  but  the  tides  of  the 
Spirit  recede,  the  heart  grows  cold,  indiffer- 

61 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

ence  comes  on,  iniquity  prevails  against  him. 
Even  a  St.  Paul  had  to  cry  out  in  bitterness 
of  spirit,  "  Oh,  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death  ?  " 

To  mention  but  one  other  cause  of  the 
fainting-fits  of  the  soul  :  Christians  have  on 
their  shoulders  and  on  their  hearts  the  public 
cause  of  Christ,  and,  when  it  is  in  difficulties  or 
is  threatened  with  failure,  they  have  to  bear  the 
burden  and  the  shame.  Sometimes  it  seems 
as  if  at  the  back  of  Christianity  there  were  no 
almighty  force  ;  the  world  is  too  strong  for 
it ;  ancient  forms  of  wrong  cannot  be  over- 
come ;  and  wickedness,  enthroned  in  high 
places,  is  scornful  and  insolent.  In  such 
cases  the  ungodly  are  always  ready  to  exult 
and  ask,  "  Where  is  your  God  now  gone  ? ' 
The  Christian  may  feel  in  his  own  heart  that 
his  prayers  are  not  being  answered  ;  perhaps 
someone  near  and  dear  to  him  is  under  the 
power  of  a  vice  from  which  even  religion 
seems  unable  to  deliver  him  ;  and  the  heart 
faints  with  the  strain  of  unceasing:  shame  and 

o 

long  delay. 

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Discipline 


2.  THE  RESTORATIVES  OF  THE 
GOOD  SHEPHERD. 

I  have  described  the  occasions  of  depression 
at  length  ;  but  the  Psalm  does  not  do  so. 

o 

What  it  says  is  not,  "  I  have  many  causes  of 
trouble,"  but,  "  He  restoreth  my  soul."  It 
is  as  if  the  only  element  of  the  time  of  suffer- 
ing which  was  remembered  was  the  deliverance 

o 

from  it. 

Man's  extremity  is  God's  opportunity. 
The  sympathy,  the  tenderness,  and  the  loving 
kindness  of  God  would  not  be  fully  known 
were  it  not  for  the  days  of  darkness  in  which 
He  draws  near  to  succour. 

If  God  is  ever  certain  to  be  near  His  saints, 
it  is  when  they  are  in  trouble.  Which  of  all 
the  sheep  in  a  good  shepherd's  flock  is  the 
most  certain  to  have  the  shepherd's  attention  ? 
Is  it  not  the  one  that  is  ailing  ?  As  soon  as 
the  cry  of  distress  is  heard  from  afar,  see  how 
the  shepherd  hastens  over  flood  and  scaur, 
leaving  the  ninety-and-nine  to  look  after 
themselves.  Of  a  mother's  children,  which 
is  the  one  that  receives  most  assiduity?  Is 

63 


'The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

it  not  the  one  that  is  in  danger  ?  When  a 
child  is  laid  down  with  fever  or  has  had  an 
accident,  the  mother's  thoughts  are  never  for 
a  moment  out  of  the  room  ;  the  love  in  her 
heart  increases  with  the  danger,  till  it  becomes 
painful  in  its  intensity,  and  she  takes  no  rest 
till  the  life  is  restored.  Such  human  experi- 
ences make  us  acquainted  with  the  heart  of 
God ;  for  the  sparks  of  affection  in  our 
composition  have  been  kindled  from  the  fire 
of  love  in  His  nature.  Never  is  He  so 
near,  never  is  His  compassion  so  melting, 
as  when  we  need  Him  most.  And,  when 
this  is  realised,  the  storm  within  us  is 
changed  into  a  calm.  Any  grief  is  bearable 
if  we  are  able  to  say,  My  Shepherd  knows. 

But  what  are  the  restoratives  with  which 
God  overcomes  the  fainting-fits  of  those  who 
put  their  trust  in  Him  ? 

They  are  numerous,  and  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  specify  them  all.  Sometimes, 
when  adversity  has  lasted  long,  He  causes 
it  to  be  followed  by  a  time  of  prosperity  ; 
and  the  joy  of  His  goodness  is  all  the  greater 
because  of  the  contrast  with  preceding  suffer- 


Discipline 

ing.  The  night  may  be  dark,  but  the  day 
succeeds  the  night ;  the  rain  may  be  con- 
tinuous, and  the  storm  may  roar  as  if  it 
would  sweep  man  with  all  his  works  off  the 
face  of  the  earth,  but  the  sunshine  succeeds 
the  rain,  and  calm  comes  after  the  storm. 
In  the  times  of  persecution  which  our  fore- 
fathers had  to  endure,  being  hunted  like 
partridges  on  the  mountains,  there  came  now 
and  then,  owing  to  various  causes,  longer  or 
shorter  periods  when  the  zeal  of  the  perse- 
cutor slackened  and  the  persecuted  were 
allowed  repose.  These  pauses  were  called 
"blinks,"  and  they  were  greatly  enjoyed. 
At  such  times  their  souls  were  restored. 
Even  in  the  lives  which  are  most  sorely 
beset  with  misfortune  there  are  "blinks"; 
God  knows  that  the  human  spirit  is  not  able 
to  bear  the  unceasing  strain  of  calamity,  and 
He  gives  these  intervals  of  rest.  When  one 

o 

source  of  comfort  or  joy  is  taken  away,  the 
vacant  place  is  filled  with  a  new  one.  Thus, 
into  a  home  from  which  someone  greatly 
beloved  has  been  removed  there  is  sent  a 
new  child ;  the  bereaved  hearts  revive  to 
E  65 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

welcome  the  young  life  ;  and  the  cypresses 
of  the  grave  are  hidden  beneath  the  climbing 
roses  of  hope. 

Sometimes  it  turns  out  that  the  road  of 
adversity  is  the  pathway  to  prosperity,  and 
apparent  calamity  is  only  the  disguise  in 
which  good  fortune  is  for  a  little  concealed. 
One  of  the  most  famous  men  of  our  century 
has  put  it  on  record  that  what  appeared  the 
misfortunes  of  his  early  life  turned  out  in 
the  end  to  be  the  steps  to  influence  and 
renown.  Again  and  again  he  attempted  to 
find  refuge  from  the  stress  of  circumstances 
by  putting  into  some  little  haven  of  common- 
place comfort,  where  he  might  have  lived  and 
died  a  nonentity  ;  but  Providence  shut  up  the 
way  in  every  case  and  kept  him  out  on  the 
high  seas,  where,  by  battling  with  the  storms, 
he  acquired  courage  and  power,  and  in  due 
time  he  came  to  his  kingdom.  Providence 
seems  sometimes  to  delight  in  steering  the 
course  of  its  favourites  to  the  very  verge  of 
ruin,  till  the  heart  of  the  voyager  quakes 
with  terror,  when  suddenly,  by  a  skilful 
turn  of  the  Pilot's  hand,  the  vessel  is  guided 

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Discipline 

into  the  sunny  seas  of  undreamed-of  success  ; 
and  the  poor  human  heart,  which  was  half- 
dead  with  dismay,  is  filled  with  laughter  and 
the  tongue  with  song.     If   in   the   spiritual 
world  there  are  seasons  of   dryness   and   of 
decline,  when    the    tree    of  life    appears    to 
wither,  there  are  also  times  of  revival,  when 
the  breath  of   spring   is   in   the   atmosphere 
and  the  movement  of  spring  in  the  ground 
-the  flowers  appear  on  the  earth,  the  time 
of   the    singing    of   birds   is   come,  and  the 
voice  of  the    turtle    is    heard    in    the   land. 
Over  a  congregation,  or  a  city,  or  a  country, 
there  passes  the  wind  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ; 
religion  suddenly  becomes  real  ;  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come  can  almost  be  seen  and 
handled  ;    and   to   be    alive   is   a  joy.     This 
may  be    brought    about    for    the   individual 
through    slight    means- -by  meeting  with    a 
new    friend,    by    the    influence    of    a    good 
minister,  by  a  little  success  in  winning  souls, 
by  realising  some  new  truth  of  God's  Word, 
or  the  like.     The  Christian  life  is  a  succes- 
sion of  new  beginnings ;  and  they  that  wait 
on  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength. 


The   Psalm  of  Psalms 

3.  THE  BEST  USE  OF  ADVERSITY. 

The  Psalm  directs  special  attention  to  one 
of  the  uses  of  adversity  in  the  words,  "  He 
leadeth  me  in  the  paths  of  righteousness." 

Here  the  poet  is  holding  fast  by  his 
metaphor  ;  because  it  is  a  fact  that  in  times 
of  peril  and  fear  the  sheep  of  a  flock  follow 
close  to  the  shepherd,  and  keep  in  a  straight 
path  wherever  he  may  lead  them.  At  other 
times  they  can  expatiate  over  the  fields  and 
may  easily  wander  ;  but  terror  makes  them 
keep  their  eye  on  the  shepherd  and  follow  him 
without  turning  to  the  right  hand  or  the  left. 

But  how  true  to  human  experience  also  is 
the  statement !  Adversity  has  a  great  deal 
to  do  with  sanctification. 

For  one  thing,  it  makes  prayer  real. 
Some  of  us  would,  I  daresay,  confess  that 
we  never  knew  what  prayer  actually  was  till 
we  were  driven  to  the  throne  of  grace  by  a 
calamity  that  was  brea  ing  our  heart.  I 
remember  being  in  Germany  immediately 
after  the  Franco-Prussian  War  ;  and  I  was 
told  how,  during  the  anxious  months  of  the 

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Discipline 

war-time,  the  churches,  which  usually  are 
so  empty  in  that  country,  were  crowded, 
every  time  the  doors  were  opened,  with 
fathers  and  mothers  whose  sons  were  at  the 
front.  Prayer  in  days  which  are  without 
suffering  or  change  is  apt  to  be  only  a  pious 
form,  of  which  we  are  weary  ;  but,  when  the 
heart  is  dreading  some  impending  calamity 
or  the  iron  of  loss  has  entered  into  the  soul, 
the  old  forms  are  filled  with  fresh  meaning, 
and  the  tides  of  emotion  overflow  the  forms  ; 
we  do  not  measure  the  time  which  we  spend 
on  our  knees,  and  the  words  of  prayer  pour, 
new  and  living,  from  the  heart. 

The  same  might  be  said  of  the  Bible :  we  read 
it  with  opened  eyes  when  we  have  suffered. 
Passages  which  we  have  read  scores  of  times 

o 

without  seeing  their  beauty  lay  hold  of  our  sym- 
pathy. Deep  calls  unto  deep — the  experience 
of  the  writer  finds  its  echo  in  our  breasts. 
What  Goethe  said  of  poetry  is  true  of  Scripture : 

Who  never  ate  his  bread  in  sorrow, 
Who  never  spent  the  midnight  hours 

Weeping  and  watching  for  the  morrow, 
He  knows  you  not,  ye  heavenly  powers. 

69 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

Thus  by  the  avenue  of  prayer  and  by  the 
avenue  of  the  Word  we  are  brought  nigh  to 
God  through  adversity  ;  but  adversity  affects 
character  in  many  other  ways.  I  have  known 
a  Christian  who,  after  years  of  careful  living 
and  useful  testimony,  fell  into  a  state  of  care- 
lessness and  backsliding.  Just  at  this  stage 
a  younger  brother  of  his  own  came  from  the 
country  to  the  city,  and  took  up  his  abode 
in  the  same  lodging.  The  younger  had 
expected  to  receive  from  the  elder  a  good 
example  ;  but,  not  receiving  it,  he  fell  into 
evil  courses,  and  the  issue  was  disastrous  in 
the  extreme.  But  it  terrified  the  backsliding 
brother  back  to  his  Lord.  Thus  are  we 
sometimes  taught,  by  the  consequences  of 
backsliding  in  ourselves  or  others,  how  evil 
and  how  bitter  a  thing  it  is  to  depart  from 
the  living  God  ;  and  the  immovable  firmness 
with  which  a  man  stands  in  the  right  path, 
avoiding  the  very  appearance  of  evil,  may  be 
due  to  the  recollection  of  a  fall  and  its 
calamitous  consequences. 

But,  in  whatever  way  adversity  may  lead  us 
in  the  paths  of  righteousness  and  away  from 

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Discipline 

the  paths  of  unrighteousness,  this  is  by  far 
the  most  blessed  effect  it  can  produce  ;  for 
to  a  Christian  nothing  is  so  good  as  holiness 
and  nothing  so  formidable  as  sin.  We  all 
naturally  desire  prosperity  and  seek  to  avoid 
adversity  ;  but  well  may  we  say,  Welcome 
adversity,  welcome  suffering,  welcome  the 
chastisements  of  God,  if  by  these  we  are  led 
in  the  paths  of  righteousness. 

4.  THE  BEST  GUARANTEE  OF 
PROSPERITY. 

The  phrase  with  which  this  verse  closes  is 
not  to  be  neglected- -the  phrase,  "for  His 
name's  sake '  -because,  though  the  wording 
of  it  is  brief,  the  meaning  is  profound. 

Surely  God  restores  the  souls  of  His 
sheep  and  leads  them  in  the  paths  of  right- 
eousness for  their  sakes.  When  we  are  in 
distress,  He  pities  us  ;  and  pity  causes  Him 
to  give  aid.  So,  when  He  is  leading  us  in 
the  paths  of  righteousness,  He  is  doing  us  a 
great  kindness  ;  for  there  is  nothing  either 
so  discreditable  or  so  miserable  to  a  child  of 

71 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

God  as  to  be  walking  in  the  path  of  un- 
righteousness. But  the  Psalm  takes  a  far 
bolder  line  :  it  says  that  God  must  do  these 
things  for  His  own  sake. 

If  we  look  again  at  the  image  of  the  shep- 
herd, we  easily  see  how  just  this  observation 
is.  A  shepherd  succours  his  sheep  when 
they  are  fainting,  and  leads  them  back  into 
the  straight  path  when  they  have  gone  astray, 
for  their  sake — because  he  is  attached  to 
them — but  is  not  his  own  character  involved 
in  the  matter  ?  Would  not  the  countryside 
ring  with  his  dishonour  if  in  such  circum- 
stances he  neglected  his  sheep  and  left  them 
to  die  ?  So  the  honour  of  God  is  involved 
in  the  welfare  of  His  people.  He  has 
undertaken  their  salvation ;  and,  having 
begun  the  good  work,  He  must  complete 
it.  If  God's  people  were  uniformly  un- 
fortunate, the  young  and  the  timid  would 
be  terrified  away  from  religion.  It  brings 
reproach  on  the  name  of  God  when  His 
professing  people  become  backsliders. 

This  is  a  strong  argument  to  use  in 
prayer  :  we  can  ask  Him  to  save  us  from 

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Discipline 

our  sins  and  to  make  us  holy,  oecause 
nothing  reflects  such  credit  on  His  cause  as 
the  consistency  of  those  who  have  named 
the  name  of  Christ.  Nothing  can  give  us 
stronger  hope  in  praying  for  friends  or 
relatives  who  may  have  fallen  under  the  power 
of  sin  :  "  Good  Shepherd,  lead  them  back 
to  the  paths  of  righteousness  for  Thine  own 
name's  sake."  Such  a  form  of  prayer  will 
impart  dignity  also  to  our  own  lives.  We 
are  too  apt  to  seek  deliverance  from  adver- 
sity for  our  own  sakes  alone  ;  we  wish  to  be 
in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity  simply  because 
it  is  more  pleasant  to  ourselves.  But  life 
ought  to  have  a  nobler  aim.  God's  glory 
ought  to  be  our  chief  end  ;  and,  if  man  is 
earnestly  seeking  to  glorify  God,  God  will 
see  to  it  that  he  also  enjoys  Him  for- 
ever. 


73 


Iff   EXTREMIS 


IN  EXTREMIS 

VERSE  FOURTH. 

"  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow 

of  death, 

I  will  fear  no  evil  ;  for  Thou  art  with  me : 
Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff,  they  comfort  me." 

THERE  is  some  difficulty  about  the  correct 
translation  of  this  verse.  In  ancient  Hebrew 
manuscripts  there  were  no  vowels  ;  only  the 
consonants  are  written,  the  vowels  having  to 

'  O 

be  supplied  by  the  reader.  This  sometimes 
introduces  considerable  uncertainty.  And  in 
the  present  case  it  depends  on  the  vowel  or 
vowels  supplied  by  the  reader  whether  the 
rendering  shall  be  "  the  valley  of  shadows ' 
or  "  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death." 
The  latter  phrase,  even  if  it  be  incorrect,  is 
in  some  respects  an  extremely  happy  one, 
and  it  has  obtained  so  strong  a  hold  in  every- 

77 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

day  speech  that  it  is  neither  likely  nor 
desirable  that  it  should  be  displaced.  Yet 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  "the  valley  of 
shadows ' '  is  what  the  writer  intended  to  say. 
It  reminds  us  of  a  phrase  in  another 
famous  Psalm,  "the  valley  of  Baca,"  which 
probably  means  "  Weeping."  So  the  Revised 
Version  renders  it  : 

Passing  through  the  Valley  of  Weeping,  they  make  it 

a  place  of  springs ; 
Yea,  the  early  rain  covereth  it  with  blessings. 

"  The  valley  of  shadows '  and  "  the  valley 
of  weeping"  must  have  the  same  meaning. 
They  are  expressions  for  a  particularly  trying 
portion  of  that  ideal  journey  which  all  must 
travel  between  the  cradle  and  the  grave. 

It  is  more  than  possible,  however,  that 
there  may  have  been  some  actual  place 
bearing  the  name  of  the  Valley  of  Shadows 
in  the  scenery  from  which  the  imagery  of 
this  Psalm  is  borrowed.  Somewhere  in  the 
hills  of  Judah,  where  David  kept  his  flocks, 
there  was  a  glen  through  which,  at  nightfall, 
the  shepherd  boy  used  to  lead  home  his 

78 


In    'Extremis 

sheep.  They  called  it  the  Valley  of  Shadows 
or  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death  ; 
because  there  the  darkness  fell  earlier  than 
elsewhere,  and  the  gloom  of  night  was 
deeper.  Its  ravines  were  haunted  by  wild 
beasts  ;  and,  as  the  darkness  came  on,  the 
distant  howl  of  wolf  or  hyaena  could  be 
heard.  David  could  remember  how,  at  such 
moments,  his  sheep  huddled  closely  about 
his  heels,  and  he  prepared  to  do  battle,  if 
necessary,  for  their  lives.  Since  then  he  had 
learned  that  the  life  of  man  has  also  such 
passages  ;  but,  as  the  sheep  crept  under  his 
protection,  so  he  had  learned  where  to  place 
his  trust :  "  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear 
no  evil ;  for  Thou  art  with  me  :  Thy  rod 
and  Thy  staff,  they  comfort  me." 

I.  THE  DARK  VALLEY, 

The  chief  objection  to  the  translation, 
"  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,"  is  that 
it  tends  to  make  us  think  too  exclusively 
of  death  as  the  portion  of  experience  here 

79 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

intended.     The   dark  valley  may,  however, 
occur  at  other  stages  of  the  journey  of  life. 

It  will  be  remembered  where,  in  the 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow 
of  Death  comes  in.  It  is  not  at  the  end, 
but  in  the  first  half  of  the  pilgrim's  journey. 
In  thus  locating  it  Bunyan  was  taking  a 
justifiable  liberty,  guided  by  his  personal 
experience  ;  and  never  has  the  scene  itself 
been  more  graphically  described.  You  re- 
member that  perilous  path,  with  a  ditch  on 
one  side  and  a  quagmire  on  the  other,  so 
that,  "  when  the  pilgrim  sought  to  shun  the 
ditch  on  the  one  hand,  he  was  ready  to  tip 
over  into  the  mire  on  the  other  ;  also,  when 
he  sought  to  escape  the  mire,  without  great 
carefulness  he  would  be  ready  to  fall  into 
the  ditch."  The  Valley  was  dark  as  pitch, 
and  full  of  hobgoblins,  satyrs  and  dragons 
of  the  pit  ;  "  also  he  heard  doleful  voices 
and  rushings  to  and  fro  "  ;  and  the  path  was 
beset  with  snares  and  nets,  holes  and  pitfalls. 
Under  this  imagery  Bunyan  bodies  forth  the 
spiritual  conflicts  and  terrors,  amounting 
almost  to  melancholy  madness,  with  which 

80 


In  Extremis 

the  earlier  stages  of  his  own  Christian  course 
were  beset,  and  of  which  such  graphic 
and  moving  descriptions  are  found  in  his 
autobiography,  Grace  Abounding.  These  ter- 
rible sufferings  were,  in  large  measure,  due 
to  a  nervous  temperament.  The  elements 
of  his  nature  were  dangerously  poised  ;  as 
was  the  case  in  a  still  more  extreme  degree 
with  another  great  Englishman  of  Christian 
genius — the  poet  Cowper.  But  there  are 
many  who,  if  asked  to  say  what  to  them  had 
been  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
would  at  once  think  of  the  period  when  they 
were  passing  through  the  conviction  of  sin, 
so  keen  was  the  pain  and  so  deadly  the 
despair  which  they  then  endured. 

In  the  case  of  others,  whose  temperament 
is  not  so  highly  strung,  the  causes  are  more 
realistic.  While  there  are  some  lives  which 
move  on  equably  from  beginning  to  end 
with  the  smoothness  of  a  boat  on  a  canal,  in 
most  there  is  considerable  vicissitude  of  joy 
and  sorrow,  as  in  the  course  of  a  ship  which 
sails  the  high  seas  and  has  to  encounter  all 
kinds  of  weather  ;  and  in  most  also  there 
F  81 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

occur,  at  least  once  or  twice,  crises  and 
catastrophes,  when  feeling  is  put  on  the 
utmost  strain,  and  the  vital  forces  seem  on 
the  point  of  being  crushed  out  by  over- 
whelming pressure  from  without  or  within. 
We  speak  of  experiences  which  can  turn  a 
person's  hair  grey,  or  out  of  which  people 
emerge  as  if  they  had  risen  from  their  graves. 
It  is  to  such  extraordinary  crises  that  the 
description  of  the  text  applies. 

They  may  be  due  to  a  thousand  different 
causes.  Some  of  these  may  be  public.  A 
great  war,  for  example,  may  put  an  enormous 
strain  on  the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants  of  a 
country  :  when,  for  weeks  and  months,  tens 
of  thousands  of  hearts  are  on  the  rack  for 
the  news  of  victory  or  defeat,  and  every  list 
of  killed  and  wounded  that  appears  is  scanned 
in  feverish  terror  of  seeing  the  name  of 
husband,  son  or  brother.  The  passage  of  a 
devastating  epidemic  through  a  city  may 
have  a  similar  effect :  when  at  every  turn  in 
the  streets  the  passing  hearse  is  met,  and  for 
months  the  wings  of  death  seem  to  be 
flapping  about  every  house.  Sometimes  a 

82 


In   Extremis 

commercial  panic  works  in  the  same  way  : 
when  a  great  bank  shuts  its  door,  whereupon 
failure  follows  failure,  the  gentlewoman  and 
the  widow  are  reduced  from  affluence  to 
beggary,  and  no  man  knows  but  the  next 
letter  he  opens  may  inform  him  that  the 
blow  has  fallen  on  his  own  home. 

The  private  causes  of  such  sufferings  are 
too  numerous  to  be  even  hinted  at.  Who 
can  estimate  what  a  wife  suffers  when  she 
first  perceives  that  her  husband  is  becoming 
a  victim  of  drink  ?  An  honest  man,  with  a 
beloved  wife  and  a  young  family  depending 
on  him,  who  is  suddenly  deprived  of  work 
and  sees  no  prospect  of  being  able  to  keep 
the  wolf  from  the  door,  must  sometimes  in 
a  few  weeks  pass  through  the  bitterness  of 
death.  When  a  heart  that  has  trusted 
another  and  given  its  whole  happiness  into 
its  keeping  discovers  at  the  critical  moment 
that  it  has  been  deceived,  it  must  appear  as 
if  the  whole  universe  were  falling  and  as  if 
mankind  were  nothing  but  a  lie. 

But,  whether  the  sacred  poet  intended  it 
or  not,  it  is  not  without  significance  that  this 

83 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

experience  has  been  called  the  Valley  of  the 
Shadow  of  Death.  Death  is  for  mankind  the 
great  Valley  of  Shadows.  Tens  of  thousands 
would  say  that  their  bereavements  had 
robbed  them  of  the  sap  and  buoyancy  of  life 
and  made  them  old — when  the  mother  sat 
by  the  bedside  and  saw  the  life  ebbing  away 
from  the  son  who  was  the  apple  of  her  eye  ; 
when  the  husband  laid  in  the  grave  the  half 
of  his  life  ;  when  the  friend  lost  the  friend 
whose  praise  was  the  chief  incentive  to  high 
endeavour.  Death  to  many  is  an  event  the 
very  thought  of  which  simply  stupefies. 
The  stoppage  of  work,  the  interruption  of 
plans,  the  forced  renunciation  of  pleasures, 
the  separation  from  the  near  and  dear  which 
it  implies,  are  bewildering  and  horrifying  ; 
and  still  worse  is  the  voyage  out  into  the  un- 
known, with  the  new  experiences  which  may 
have  to  be  encountered  there.  Of  all  enemies 
Death  is  not  only  the  last  but  the  worst.  It  was 
one  who  knew  human  nature  well  that  said  : 

The  weariest  and  most  loathed  worldly  life 
Which  age,  want,  penury  and  imprisonment 
Can  lay  on  nature  is  a  Paradise 
To  what  we  fear  of  death. 


In   Extremis 

2.  THE  PRESENCE  OF  GOD. 

Again  the  poet  is  back  among  the  experi- 
ences of  his  early  days.  As  the  sheep 
entered  the  Valley  of  the  Shadows,  fear 
huddled  them  close  round  the  shepherd ; 
but  through  contact  with  his  body  they 
became  fearless  ;  his  well-known  voice  soothed 
them  ;  even  the  touch  of  his  crook,  laid  on 
them  to  keep  them  together,  filled  them 
with  confidence. 

It  has  often  been  asked  what  is  the 
difference  between  the  rod  and  the  staff,  but 
no  very  satisfactory  answer  has,  as  far  as  I 
am  aware,  been  given.  Some  have  regarded 
the  words  as  two  names  for  the  same  thing  : 
but  this  is  unlikely,  as  it  would  be  a 
manifest  tautology.  Although  it  cannot  be 
proved  from  the  modern  customs  of  the 
East,  it  is  most  probable  that  the  ancient 
shepherd  carried  with  him  two  instruments 
of  his  trade — one  rod  of  lighter  make,  to  be 
used  in  dealing  with  the  sheep,  and  another 
of  heavier  weight  and  shod  with  iron,  for 
the  purpose  of  dealing  with  the  enemies  of 

85 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

the  sheep,  striking  at  the  lion  or  the  bear 
which  might  attack  them.  At  all  events,  in 
God  there  are  resources  corresponding  to 
both  :  He  has  all  that  is  required  for  both 
the  guidance  and  the  protection  of  His  own. 
The  peace  and  contentment  of  the  sheep 
are  not,  however,  due  to  the  rod  and  staff, 
but  to  the  bearer  of  them.  And  the  secret 
of  the  heart's  peace  is  God  Himself — "  I 
will  fear  no  evil  ;  for  Thou  art  with  me." 
It  is  a  universal  experience  that  fear  departs 
when  the  appropriate  person  is  near  on 
whose  love,  strength  or  wisdom  we  can 
rely.  A  child  dreads  to  be  alone  in  an 
empty  house  ;  but  to  be  there  along  with 
its  mother  makes  fear  impossible.  A  boy 
lost  in  the  crowd  cries  as  if  his  heart  would 
break  ;  but,  carried  through  the  crowd  on 
his  father's  shoulder,  he  is  as  happy  as  a 
king.  As  the  train  rushes  through  the 
night  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour, 
what  a  panic  it  would  cause  if  the  passengers 
should  karn  that  no  one  was  on  the  engine  ; 
but,  when  they  have  reason  to  believe  that 
the  engineer  is  with  them,  they  fear  no  evil. 

86 


In   Extremis 

The  prisoner  placed  at  the  bar  charged  with 
a  crime  of  which  he  knows  himself  to  be 
innocent  would  be  lost  if  left  to  himself  to 
unwind  the  rope  which  the  sophistical  skill 
of  the  prosecutor  is  twisting  round  his  neck  ; 
but,  when  he  looks  at  the  advocate  who  is 
with  him,  armed  with  complete  knowledge 
of  the  facts  and  with  brilliant  powers  of 
argument,  he  is  not  afraid. 

There  can  be  no  circumstances  in  which 
God  is  not  with  His  own.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  that  the  four  verses  about  the 
Good  Shepherd  in  the  Twenty-third  Psalm 
correspond  in  a  remarkable  way  with  four 
names  of  God- -verse  I,  "The  Lord  is  my 
Shepherd,  I  shall  not  want/'  with  Jehovah- 
jireh,  the  Lord  will  provide  ;  verse  2,  "  He 
maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures  : 
He  leadeth  me  beside  the  still  waters,"  with 
Jehovah-shalom,  the  Lord  is  our  peace  ;  verse 
3,  "  He  restoreth  my  soul  :  He  leadeth  me  in 
the  paths  of  righteousness  for  His  name's 
sake,"  with  Jehovah-tsidkenu,  the  Lord  our 
righteousness  ;  and  verse  4,  "  Yea,  though  I 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 

87 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

death,  I  will  fear  no  evil  :  for  Thou  art  with 
me  ;  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff  they  comfort 
me/'  with  Jehovah-shammah,  the  Lord  is 
there. 

Jehovah-shammah  is  one  of  the  watchwords 
of  the  spiritual  life.  Ascend  I  into  heaven, 
He  is  there  ;  descend  I  into  hell,  He  is 
there.  Be  my  lot  in  sunshine  or  in  dark- 
ness, in  health  or  in  sickness,  He  is  there. 
When  I  am  on  a  bed  of  weakness,  when  I 
am  drawing  my  latest  breath,  and  when  I 
stand  before  the  great  white  throne,  still 
Jehovah-shammah,  the  Lord  will  be  there  ; 
and  I  will  fear  no  evil. 

This  is  a  secret  which  thousands  of  times 
has  transmuted  the  bed  of  death  from  a  place 
of  fear  and  mortal  defeat  into  a  scene  of 
victory  and  transfiguration.  This  is  the 
secret :  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway  even  to 
the  end  of  the  world.  Amen." 


THE   ROYAL   ENTERTAINER 


THE   ROYAL   ENTERTAINER 

VERSE  FIFTH. 

"  Thou  preparest  a  table  before  me  in  the  presence  of 

mine  enemies : 

Thou  anointest  mine  head  with  oil ; 
My  cup  runneth  over." 

AT  the  fifth  verse,  it  is  manifest,  the  figure 
of  speech  is  changed.  Up  to  this  point 
every  clause  has  been  a  picture  from  the 
experience  of  the  sheep ;  but,  when  the 
singer  says,  "  Thou  preparest  a  table  before 
me  in  the  presence  of  mine  enemies  ;  thou 
anointest  mine  head  with  oil ;  my  cup  run- 
neth over,"  it  is  obvious  that  the  figure  of 
the  sheep  and  the  shepherd  is  entirely 
dropped. 

I.  THE  NEW  FIGURE  OF  SPEECH. 

If  at  this  point  the  figure  of  speech  is 
changed,  it  is  a  question  what  the  next 
figure  is. 

91 


The   Psalm  of  Psalms 

In  a  published  sermon,  characterized  by 
spiritual  power  and  especially  by  the  vivid- 
ness imparted  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Old  Testament  by  knowledge  of  the  Orient, 
Principal  George  Adam  Smith  takes  this 
verse  as  a  picture  of  a  scene  from  pastoral 
life.  He  thinks  the  speaker  is  a  fugitive 
who,  having  committed  some  crime,  is  pur- 
sued by  the  avengers  of  blood,  and  has  taken 
refuge  in  the  tent  of  a  shepherd-chief.  By 
Eastern  law  and  custom  such  a  fugitive 
would  be  protected  with  all  the  resources 
of  the  person  on  whose  mercy  he  had  cast 
himself,  and  regaled  with  the  best  which 
the  encampment  could  afford.  It  is  a  truly 
tragic  picture  to  see  the  fugitive  there  with- 
in, protected  by  the  sheikh  and  feasting  on 
the  best,  while  his  infuriated  and  blood- 
thirsty foes  glare  at  him  from  the  opposite 
side  of  the  threshold,  which  they  dare  not 
cross.  Principal  Smith  takes  these  pursuing 
enemies  to  represent  the  writer's  sins.  The 
spectres  of  guilt  pursue  every  son  of  man, 
for  who  has  not  behind  him  an  evil  past  ? 
But,  if  a  man  has  taken  refuge  in  God,  cast- 

92 


The   Royal   Entertainer 

ing  himself  on  His  mercy,  his  pursuers  dare 
not  touch  him.  Undoubtedly  this  gives  a 
striking  sense  to  the  verse  ;  and  the  inter- 
pretation has  this  recommendation,  that  it 
still  adheres  to  the  pastoral  life.  But  the 
author  is  not  so  happy  in  explaining  the 
sixth  verse. 

By  the  perusal  of  a  fascinating  booklet, 
entitled  The  Song  of  our  Syrian  Guest ,  from 
the  pen  of  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Knight,  the 
minds  of  multitudes  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic  have  been  captured  for  the  view 
that  the  image  of  shepherd  and  sheep  is  con- 
tinued to  the  end  of  the  Psalm.  For  the 
fifth  verse  this  is  argued  ingeniously,  but  not 
convincingly  :  the  preparing  of  a  table  being 
taken  as  the  selection  of  a  pasture,  the 
anointing  as  the  salving  of  wounds  and 
bruises,  and  the  cup  as  the  vessel  by  which 
the  trough  is  filled  out  of  which  the  sheep 
drink.  Far  more  natural  is  the  application 
of  the  language  to  the  various  features  of  a 
banquet.  But  it  is  in  the  sixth  verse  that 
that  interpretation  breaks  down.  A  sheep 
does  not  dwell  in  the  "  house '  of  a  shep- 

93 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

herd,  unless  it  be  a  pet  lamb  ;  and  this  is  a 
condition  which  does  not  last  "forever." 
No  doubt  the  word  "  house '  has  great 
latitude  of  application  ;  and  it  might  pos- 
sibly refer  to  the  fold,  though  I  do  not 
remember  a  case  where  it  is  so  used.  When 
"the  house  of  the  Lord'  is  taken  as  the 
palace  of  the  king,  in  which  the  banquet  of 
the  fifth  verse  has  taken  place,  the  sixth 
verse  is  the  climax  of  the  whole  Psalm,  as 
from  its  position  it  ought  to  be  ;  but  under 
any  other  interpretation  this  character  is  lost. 
Tn  short,  David  is  here  making  use  of  the 
experience  of  the  second  portion  of  his  own 
life,  as  in  the  image  of  the  shepherd  and  the 
sheep  he  utilises  the  experience  of  the  first. 
As  in  youth  he  was  a  shepherd  abiding  in 
the  fields,  in  manhood  he  was  a  king  living 
in  a  palace.  One  of  the  obligations  of  a 
king  is  to  be  an  entertainer,  exercising  a 
frequent  and  a  splendid  hospitality.  In  this 
virtue,  we  know  from  the  historical  records 
of  his  reign,  David  did  not  come  short ;  he 
had  the  cordiality  and  the  personal  fascina- 
tion by  which  hospitality  is  rendered  delight- 

94 


The  Royal  Entertainer 

ful.  Many  a  guest  had  he  made  happy  at 
his  table,  thereby  binding  him  in  triple 
loyalty  to  his  own  person  ;  and,  as  in  his 
own  conduct  as  a  shepherd  he  had  found  a 
fruitful  image  of  what  God  had  done,  so 

O  ' 

does  he  find  in  this  other  ro/ey  played  by 
himself  with  such  distinction,  an  ampler  and 
more  intimate  representation  of  the  divine 
goodness. 

2.  AN  IMAGE  OF  ACTIVITY. 

Why  is  it  that  the  sacred  singer  forsakes  the 
image  of  the  shepherd  and  the  sheep,  and  em- 
braces in  his  poem  this  one  also?  I  have  already 
given  an  external  reason  in  the  two  periods 
of  David's  history  ;  but  there  is  an  internal 
reason  as  well  :  it  is  that  the  first  image  is 
not  sufficient  to  express  the  spiritual  life  in 
its  entirety.  Some  aspects  of  it  were  ex- 
pressed by  this  image  admirably,  but  others, 
no  less  important,  could  hardly  be  expressed 
at  all. 

For  example,  it  expressed  the  passive  but 
not  the  active  side  of  religion. 

95 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

The  relation  of  the  sheep  to  the  shepherd 
is  wholly  passive  :  the  sheep  is  fed,  it  is  led, 
it  is  protected  ;  a  sheep  does  nothing  for 
itself,  or  next  to  nothing.  And  there  is  a 
side  of  religion  which  corresponds  to  this  : 
in  religion  God  does  everything,  and  man 
has  nothing  to  do  but  passively  receive. 
This  is  a  great  truth  ;  but  it  is  not  the 
whole  truth.  Religion  has  an  active  side  as 

o 

well :  it  is  a  battle  and  a  victory.  Well  was 
David  aware  of  this  :  he  was  a  great  worker 
for  God,  a  fighter  and  a  victor  ;  and  this 
side  of  his  religion  is  expressed  in  this  next 
image. 

Perhaps  this  is  most  distinctly  hinted  at 
in  the  phrase,  "in  the  presence  of  mine 
enemies,"  because  this  denotes  that  it  is  a 
warrior's  feast  which  is  described. 

Many  of  the  banquets  in  David's  palace 
must  have  been  of  this  type.  One  of  the 
features  of  his  reign  was  that,  like  our  own 
King  Arthur  with  his  knights  of  the  Round 
Table,  he  collected  round  himself  from  all 
parts  of  the  land  the  young  men  of  promise 
and  aspiration,  and  trained  them  up  in  valour 


The  Royal  Entertainer 

and  usefulness.  Their  exploits  were  long 
remembered  by  their  countrymen  with  pride 
and  affection.  At  their  head  were  the  three 
mighties,  and  after  these  the  thirty  ;  Joab 
and  Abishai,  Benaiah  and  Asahel  were  names 
familiar  for  generations  afterwards  as  house- 
hold words.  These  David  sent  forth  to 
clear  the  land  of  enemies  and  to  widen  its 
borders  on  every  hand  ;  and,  when  they 

came    home    to    record    their    triumphs,    no 

j.      ' 

doubt  he  feasted  them  in  the  palace,  making 
them  feel  how  much  he  rejoiced  in  their 
valour  and  their  victories. 


3.  AN  IMAGE  OF  FRIENDSHIP. 

Another  element  of  the  spiritual  life  imper- 
fectly expressed  by  the  image  of  the  sheep 
and  the  shepherd,  but  far  more  adequately 
set  forth  by  that  of  entertainer  and  guest, 
is  communion. 

Between   sheep   and   shepherd   there   is  a 

strong  tie  :  they  understand  each  other,  and 

may  be  said  to  love  each  other.     Yet  they 

are  far  apart :    between  a  brute  and  a  man 

G  97 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed.  It  may  be  said 
that  the  gulf  between  man  and  God  is  wider 
still.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  The  Eighth 
Psalm  boldly  declares,  in  the  correct  translation 
of  the  Revised  Version,  that  man  has  been 
made  but  a  little  lower  than  God  ;  and  all 
Scripture  unites  in  declaring  that  man  was 
made  in  the  image  of  God.  Man  is  capable 
of  knowing,  loving  and  obeying  his  Creator, 
and  this  is  his  highest  honour.  It  is,  indeed, 
an  infinite  condescension  on  the  part  of  God  ; 
but  He  allows  and  invites  man  to  a  far  closer 
fellowship  with  Himself  than  it  is  possible 
for  a  sheep  to  have  with  a  man  ;  and  this 
was  the  fact  of  religion  which  required  to  be 
represented  through  a  new  image. 

A  banquet  is  a  living  image  of  fellowship. 
To  invite  a  man  to  be  your  guest  is  an 
expression  of  respect  and  affection  ;  and  it 
is  an  intimation  that  you  wish  to  know  more 
of  him,  and  to  come  closer  to  him.  The 
house  is  adorned,  the  table  is  spread  with 
unusual  care,  and  the  viands  are  chosen  to 
give  him  pleasure  and  do  him  honour.  As 
the  feast  proceeds,  distance  and  shyness  are 


The  Royal   Entertainer 

broken  down  ;  the  lips  are  opened,  and  the 
heart  is  opened.  The  host  not  only  gives 
his  entertainment,  but  he  gives  himself;  and 
the  guest  gives  himself  in  return. 

This  is  an  image  of  religion.  Religion  is 
fellowship  with  God  ;  this  is  its  very  soul 
and  essence.  To  be  religious  is  to  walk 
with  God.  It  is  to  move  all  day  long  in  an 
atmosphere  warmed  and  enlightened  by  His 
presence.  It  is  to  realise  Him  to  be  so  near 
that  you  can  appeal  to  Him  in  every  emer- 
gency, seek  His  aid  in  every  time  of  need, 
and  in  every  joy  make  Him  your  confidant. 
It  is  to  see  Him  everywhere — in  the  sun- 
shine, in  the  beauty  of  hill  and  dale,  in  the 
life  of  the  market-place  and  the  vicissitudes 
of  home.  This  immensely  brightens  and 
intensifies  life ;  and  in  this  sense  all  a 
Christian's  life  may  be  said  to  be  a  banquet. 
Others,  sitting  at  the  table  of  Providence, 
receive  ordinary  fare ;  but  those  who  enjoy 
God  in  everything  partake  of  festal  food. 
A  crust,  if  God's  blessing  is  given  with  it, 
and  if  it  is  received  with  thankfulness,  causes 
more  enjoyment  than  the  most  savoury  food 

99 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

where  God  is  forgotten.  To  the  mind  which 
can  discern  God  the  whole  world  becomes  a 
king's  palace. 

But  in  another  sense  the  Christian  life  may 
be  compared  to  a  banquet  :  not  only  is  God 
in  every  part  of  it,  but  now  and  then  He 
favours  the  soul  with  special  seasons  of  com- 
munion. In  its  very  nature  a  feast  is  an 
occasional  thing :  it  does  not  take  place 
every  day.  And  perhaps,  therefore,  the 
experience  for  which  it  stands  is  one  which 
is  not  the  Christian's  daily  portion,  but  given 
as  a  special  favour  and  reward  now  and  then. 
There  are  such  seasons  :  religion  has  not 
only  its  ordinary  tenor,  but  its  exceptional 
experiences — its  mounts  of  transfiguration 
and  its  evenings  in  the  upper  room.  At 
such  times  God  comes  very  near,  and  fellow- 
ship is  very  close.  Of  such  occurrences 
the  saints  of  every  age  have  spoken.  Says 
one  : 

Upon  my  heart,  bestowed  by  Thee, 

More  gladness  I  have  found 
Than  they,  even  then  when  corn  and  wine 

Did  most  with  them  abound. 

IOO 


The   Royal   Entertainer 

Another,  on  the  evening  of  a  day  spent  in 
communion,  said,  "  I  had  rather  be  a  door- 
keeper in  the  house  of  my  God  than  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  wickedness."  St.  Paul  was 
caught  up  to  the  third  heavens,  and  did  not 
know  whether  he  was  in  the  body  or  out 
of  the  body.  Read  the  Confessions  of  St. 
vAugustiney  or  the  Sermons  of  St.  "Bernard, 
Bunyan's  Grace  Abounding,  or  Rutherford's 
Letters,  and  you  will  see  that  the  Christian 
life  has  what  Bunyan  calls  its  "golden 
hours " ;  and  what  makes  these  golden  is 
the  nearness  of  God  and  the  sense  of 
the  divine  love.  Ordinary  humanity  no 
doubt  has  its  rare  and  memorable  moments 
too  :  it  is  a  poor  life  in  which  there  are  not 
some  days  which  shine  like  gold  and  dia- 
monds among  the  wood,  hay  and  stubble 
of  ordinary  experience — days  so  precious 
that  they  would  not  be  exchanged  for  years 
of  commonplace  existence  —  but  nothing 
earthly  can  lift  the  human  spirit  to  such 
heights  as  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of 
God. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  interpret  in  detail  the 

101 


Tire  Psalm  of  Psalms 

different  parts  of  the  banquet  as  they  are 
described  in  the  text — the  food,  which  is  no 
doubt  chiefly  intended  in  the  opening  words, 
"  Thou  preparest  a  table  before  me  "  ;  then 
the  delightful  extravagance  of  oil,  with  its 
cool  touch,  so  grateful  in  an  Eastern  climate, 
and  its  fragrance,  enveloping  the  senses ;  then 
the  drink,  so  abundant  as  to  overflow  the 
wine-cup.  In  Christian  experience  some- 
thing could  easily  be  found  corresponding 
to  each  of  these ;  and  those  so  disposed  may 
exercise  their  ingenuity  in  rinding  it  out. 
But  I  will  not  take  the  trouble ;  these  are 
only  poetical  amplifications  of  the  idea  of  a 
right  regal  banquet.  The  most  important 
thing  is  that  which  underlies  them  without 
being  expressed.  What  is  the  reason  why 
you  go  to  anyone's  table  when  you  are 
invited  ?  It  is  not  because  you  will  get 
a  better  meal  than  you  would  at  home, 
though  this  may  be  welcome  ;  it  is  not  for 
the  abundance  and  the  splendour,  though 
you  may  feel  these  to  be  in  place  :  it  is 
friendship  which  takes  you  there ;  you  go 
to  find  your  friend,  not  to  receive  his  food ; 

IO2 


The  Royal  Entertainer 

these  externals  are  only  preparations  and 
contributions  to  the  true  feast.  So,  in  re- 
ligion, it  is  God  Himself  we  seek ;  and  the 
various  blessings  of  salvation  are  nothing 
in  themselves  except  as  they  bring  us  nigh 
to  Him. 


103 


FOREVER 


TO; 


FOREVER 

VERSE  SIXTH. 

"Surely  goodness   and    mercy  shall   follow  me   all   the 

days  of  my  life : 
And  I  will  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  forever." 

ON  a  celebrated  occasion  King  David,  in 
thanking  God  for  the  singular  success  which 
had  marked  his  life-history,  made  special 
mention  of  the  fact  that  God  had  pledged 
to  him  His  goodness  for  a  great  while  to 
come  :  "  Then  went  King  David  in  and  sat 
before  the  Lord,  and  he  said,  Who  am  I,  O 
Lord  God,  and  what  is  my  house,  that  Thou 
hast  brought  me  hitherto  ?  And  this  was 
yet  a  small  thing  in  Thy  sight,  O  Lord 
God ;  but  Thou  hast  spoken  of  Thy 
servant's  house  for  a  great  while  to  come. 
And  is  this  the  manner  of  man,  O  Lord 
God  ? " 

107 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

It  is  a  wonderful  mercy  to  be  able  not 
only  to  remember  the  past  with  gratitude, 
but  to  contemplate  the  future  with  confi- 
dence. Mortals  are  naturally  terrified  at 
the  future.  However  bright  the  past  may 
have  been,  the  dread  haunts  them  that  in  the 
future  may  be  hiding  some  ironical  revenge. 
After  the  foaming  cup  of  life  has  been 
drunk,  there  may  be  bitter  dregs  at  the 
bottom.  We  cannot  tell  what  a  day  may 
bring  forth.  Only  a  step  in  front  of  every 
one  of  us  hangs  a  dark  curtain,  which  we 
cannot  lift.  Who  knows  what  may  be 
awaiting  us  in  any  of  the  unknown  days  of 
a  new  year  ?  It  may  be  some  spectre  of 
misfortune,  which  will  turn  all  our  bright 
life  into  darkness.  So  whispers  our  ignor- 
ance. 

Nor  is  the  fear  of  the  future  always  so 
vague.  Some  know  that  it  must  contain 
exceptional  trials  for  them.  The  young 
man  who  has  just  come  to  the  city  to  push 
his  fortune  finds  himself  confronted  with 
danger  at  every  turn.  All  the  influences 
which  have  hitherto  supported  and  en- 

108 


Forever 

couraged  him   are    left    behind  ;    he  is  sur- 

o  * 

rounded  with  new  temptations  ;  the  pace  of 
life  is  so  fast  that  he  has  no  time  to  think, 
and  the  numbers  and  the  novelty  bewilder 
him.  He  asks  anxiously  how  he  is  to 
survive  the  trying  time,  and  whether  it  is 
possible  to  come  out  with  safety  and  honour 
on  the  other  side. 

Many  who  have  long  survived  this  initial 
stage  yet  fear  the  future,  and  not  without 
good  cause.  They  have  passed  the  summit 
of  life,  and  see  before  them  the  downward 
slope  on  what  is  called  the  sunless  side 
of  the  hill.  They  must  look  forward  to  a 
more  limited  range  of  activity,  to  failing 
powers  and  to  the  infirmities  of  old  age. 
Must  the  sweetness  of  life,  then,  be  only 
a  reminiscence  of  the  past  ?  So  the  world 
believes  : 

Gather  the  rosebuds  while  ye  may, 

Old  Time  is  still  a-flying ; 
And  that  same  flower  which  blooms  today 

Tomorrow  will  be  dying. 

Such  is  the  philosophy  of  the  world.     But  is 
there  a  truer  philosophy  ?  is  there  a  gospel 

109 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

which  can  assure  us  that  the  best  is  still  in 
front — that  the  sun  of  life  is  not  sinking 
behind  our  backs,  but  rising  in  the  direction 
to  which  our  faces  are  turned  ? 

It  is  this  blessed  gospel  which  is  embodied 
in  the  text.  This  Twenty-third  Psalm,  as  we 
have  seen,  celebrates  the  past — it  is  a  record 
of  varied  past  experience — but  it  also  speaks 
of  the  future  "  for  a  great  while  to  come." 

i.  THE  FUTURE  ON  THIS  SIDE  OF  DEATH. 

The  sacred  poet  does  not  assume  that  the 
future  will  contain  no  difficulties  or  perils 
for  him.  On  the  contrary,  he  knows  that 
his  life  is  to  be  one  of  service  and  warfare. 
It  is  the  same  person  we  have  speaking  in 
this  last  verse  who,  in  verse  5,  described 
himself  as  seated  at  the  table  of  the  king, 
anointed  with  oil  and  drinking  an  overflow- 
ing cup.  But,  as  we  saw,  that  was  a  warrior, 
and  the  banquet  was  a  reward  for  deeds 
bravely  done.  When,  however,  the  feast  is 
over,  the  soldier  must  gird  on  his  armour 
again  and  return  to  the  field.  Enemies 

no 


Forever 

have  been  vanquished,  but  not  the  whole  of 
them  ;  there  are  still  battles  to  fight  and 
victories  to  win. 

If  we  are  in  the  army  of  God  and  know 
what  it  is  to  be  rewarded  by  communion 
with  Himself  for  past  services,  we  must  not 
grow  weary  in  well-doing.  There  remains 
yet  very  much  land  to  be  possessed.  God 
does  not  call  us  to  a  valetudinarian  and 
cloistered  virtue.  He  desires  us  to  perform 
our  part  in  the  struggle  of  life,  and  in  the 
common  business  of  the  world  to  play  the 
man  for  Him.  Besides,  there  is  the  burden 
of  His  cause  to  be  borne,  and  the  means 
have  to  be  provided  for  extending  His 
reign.  The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  must 
not  be  surrendered  to  the  devil.  Every 
department  of  human  effort  is  yet  to  be 
holiness  to  the  Lord  ;  every  corner  of  the 
globe  is  to  be  filled  with  His  glory  ;  every 
tribe  of  the  human  race  to  be  numbered 
among  His  people.  Every  false  form  of 
faith  must  be  exploded  ;  every  practice  of 
cruelty  and  oppression  by  which  the  world  is 
cursed  must  come  to  an  end.  The  struggle 

i  ii 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

is  a  long  one  ;  it  is  full  of  labour  and  peril ; 
no  Christian,  however,  dare  decline  it ;  to 
his  dying  day  he  must  be  a  soldier. 

But,  as  he  leaves  the  banqueting  house,  to 
return  to  the  field  of  action,  who  are  these 
two  figures  that  accompany  him  by  order  of 
the  king?  "Goodness  and  Mercy  shall 
follow  me  all  the  days  of  my  life."  These 
two  divine  attributes  are  here  personified  : 
they  are  servants  appointed  to  follow  the 
departing  guest,  to  see  that  no  evil  befalls 
him  ;  they  are  guardian  angels  sent  to  pro- 
tect him  from  calamity.  In  the  Homeric 
poems  gods  and  goddesses  sometimes  de- 
scend to  the  earth  and  visit  the  field  of 
battle,  to  assist  their  favourites.  In  a 
moment  of  deadly  peril  a  goddess  will 
diffuse  round  the  warrior  who  is  too 
severely  pressed  a  mist,  in  which  he  is  re- 
moved from  the  sight  of  his  foes  ;  or,  as- 
suming human  shape,  a  god  will  plunge  into 
the  struggle  in  which  the  mortal  in  whom 
he  is  interested  is  being  worsted  and,  with 
a  spear  before  whose  point  everything  goes 
down,  completely  turn  the  tide  of  battle. 

112 


Forever 

No  such  mythology  finds  admission  into  the 
sacred  Scriptures  ;  but  this  is  something  like 
the  function  here  intended  for  the  personi- 
fied Goodness  and  Mercy. 

What  attractive  figures  these  two  are — 
how  full  of  sympathy  and  bounty  !  Can 
there  be  any  misfortune  for  which  divine 
Goodness  cannot  find  a  remedy  ?  How  can 
life  ever  become  bare  and  empty  when  this 
kind  angel  is  present,  ready  to  pour  in 
strength  from  the  horn  of  plenty  ?  Still 
more  welcome  is  Mercy  ;  ah,  we  cannot 
afford  to  be  without  her.  Of  all  the  dangers 
which  the  future  contains,  our  chief  fear  is 
the  danger  arising  from  ourselves.  The 
battle,  however  severe,  would  be  nothing,  if 
only  we  were  absolutely  sure  of  our  own 
loyalty.  But  we  have  in  us  an  evil  heart  of 
unbelief,  which  departs  from  the  living  God  ; 
the  old  man  within  us  would  betray  the 
whole  cause  to  the  enemy  ;  terrible  is  the 
force  of  besetting  sin,  frequent  are  our  fits 
of  coldness  and  backsliding.  We  require 
mercy  every  day. 

But  goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  us 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

all  the  days  of  our  life.  In  days  of  pro- 
sperity they  will  be  with  us,  lest  pride 
should  betray  us  ;  in  days  of  adversity,  lest 
fear  should  make  us  turn  back.  It  is  true  we 
can  never  tell  with  what  a  portent  any  new 
day  may  be  in  travail  ;  but,  let  it  be  what  it 
may,  yet,  if  Goodness  and  Mercy  be  with  us, 
what  need  we  fear  ?  In  the  hot  days  of 
youth  and  in  the  feeble  days  of  old  age  ;  in 
the  busy  day  of  action,  in  the  sequestered 
day  of  thought,  and  in  the  holiday  of  re- 
pose still  they  will  be  with  us.  As  we 
sleep,  they  will  keep  watch  and  ward  ;  and, 
when  we  awake,  they  will  be  ready  to  ac- 
company us.  In  the  day  when  friends  are 
many  they  will  be  there,  the  best  friends  of 
all ;  and  in  the  day  when  all  have  deserted 
us  they  will  be  there,  never  leaving  or  for- 
saking us.  Finally,  on  the  day  of  death, 
when  the  world  is  fading  from  our  grasp, 
and  around  us  are  crowding  the  new  shapes 
of  the  world  unknown,  still  these  old  and 
familiar  figures  will  be  with  us — "  Goodness 
and  Mercy  shall  follow  me  all  the  days  of 
my  life." 

114 


Forever 


2.  THE  FUTURE  ON  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

OF  DEATH. 

The  "great  while  to  come,"  for  which 
David  had  received  the  assurance  of  the 
Divine  countenance,  did  not  merely  reach  to 
the  very  end  of  this  earthly  life  but  extended 
beyond  the  boundary  of  death — "  and  I  will 
dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  forever.11 

"The  house  of  the  Lord  "  is  a  common 
phrase  for  the  temple  or  the  tabernacle ;  and 
many  have  so  understood  it  here.  In  this 
sense  the  text  would  mean  that  David  would 
always  have  free  access  to  God  in  His  earthly 
house;  and,  of  course,  "forever11  might  not 
mean  more  than  as  long  as  he  should  live. 

But  "  the  house  of  the  Lord  "  is  not  here 
intended  in  an  ecclesiastical  sense.  It  is  the 
palace  of  the  Divine  King — the  same  in 
which  the  banquet  of  verse  5  took  place. 
As  a  reward  for  his  exploits  the  warrior  was 
admitted  once  into  the  palace  as  a  guest ;  the 
banquet  being  over,  he  had  to  return  again 
to  the  field  of  battle  ;  but  he  looked  forward 
to  a  time  when,  all  his  battles  being  finished, 

"5 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

he  would  be  invited  back  to  the  palace,  not 
again  to  enjoy  a  banquet  lasting  only  for  a 
night,  but  to  be  a  permanent  inmate  of  the 
place  ;  as  Mephibosheth  was  fed  every  day  at 
King  David's  table. 

The  figurative  language  being  stripped 
away,  this  looks  as  if  it  were  the  expression 
of  an  assurance  that,  after  the  efforts  of  the 
mortal  life  are  over,  those  who  love  God  will 
dwell  forever  in  communion  with  Him  in 
heaven. 

To  us  there  is  nothing  in  the  least  novel  in 
such  an  idea ;  but  it  is  very  unusual  in  the 
Old  Testament  —  so  unusual  that  many 
scholars  would  declare  that  it  cannot  possibly 
be  supposed  to  have  a  place  in  one  of  the 
Psalms,  especially  if  this  be  by  David.  One 
of  the  most  extraordinary  features  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  the  absence  from  it  of  the 
scenery  of  the  future  world  to  which  in  the 
New  Testament  we  are  accustomed.  In  the 
Books  of  Moses,  for  example,  when  the 
punishments  are  described  which  will  ensue 
upon  disobedience,  all  kinds  of  woes  which 
can  be  endured  in  this  world  are  piled  up 

116 


Forever 

in  the  most  appalling  numbers,  but  no 
mention  is  made  of  punishment  in  a  future 
state  of  existence ;  and,  in  the  same  way, 
when  the  rewards  are  mentioned  which  are 
promised  to  obedience,  all  earthly  blessings, 
such  as  long  life,  plentiful  harvests,  political 
peace  and  domestic  joys,  are  enumerated,  but 
no  mention  is  made  of  that  which,  according 
to  our  notions,  ought  to  be  most  prominent 
of  all — the  promise  of  a  reward  in  heaven 
after  death. 

Not  that  the  Hebrews  supposed  that  at 
death  life  is  extinguished,  and  that  there  is  no 
existence  beyond.  Many  things  might  be 
adduced  to  prove  that  they  were  quite  aware 
that  they  would  continue  to  exist.  Thus 
when  anyone  died,  he  was  said  to  be 
"  gathered  to  his  fathers  "  ;  that  is,  he  went 
to  meet  in  the  other  world  those  who  had 
died  before  him  ;  and  some  passages  appear 
to  show  not  only  that  there  would  be  recog- 
nition there,  but  that  the  inhabitants  lived  in 
nations  and  tribes,  as  they  had  done  in  this 
world.  But  the  extraordinary  thing  is  the 
quality  of  the  future  life  as  they  imagined  it. 

117 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

The  place  where  the  dead  assemble  is  called 
Sheol ;  and  they  often  speak  as  if  it  were 
located  somewhere  below  ground ;  but  there 
is  no  clear  description  of  it ;  and  no  wonder, 
for  it  is  "the  land  of  darkness  and  the 
shadow  of  death ;  a  land  of  darkness,  as 
darkness  itself,  without  any  order,  and  where 
the  light  is  as  darkness."  Dim  and  shadowy, 
too,  is  the  existence  there  :  "  there  is  no  work, 
nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom  in 
Sheol." 

In  such  a  prospect  there  was  nothing  to 
attract,  but  quite  the  reverse.  Accordingly, 
the  way  in  which  even  good  men  speak  in  the 
prospect  of  death  is  totally  unlike  what  we 
should  now  expect  in  the  mouth  of  a 
Christian.  Read,  for  example,  the  prayer  of 
Hezekiah,  when  he  was  sick  and  expected  to 
die.  There  is  not  in  it  a  scintillation  of  any 
bliss  to  which  he  was  looking  forward  on  the 
other  side  of  death.  On  the  contrary,  he 
says,  "  I  shall  not  see  the  Lord,  even  the 
Lord  in  the  land  of  the  living.  Nothingness 
cannot  praise  Thee  ;  death  cannot  celebrate 
Thee ;  they  that  go  down  into  the  pit  cannot 

118 


Forever 

hope  for  Thy  truth.1'  Similarly  in  Psalm 
Thirty,  a  good  man  in  prospect  of  death,  but 
pleading  hard  for  life,  prays,  "  What  profit  is 
there  in  my  blood  when  I  go  down  to  the 
pit  ?  shall  the  dust  praise  Thee  ?  shall  it 
declare  Thy  truth  ? '  And  another  psalmist 
pleads  in  similar  circumstances,  "For  in 
death  there  is  no  remembrance  of  Thee ; 
in  the  grave  who  shall  give  Thee  thanks  ? ' 
"  The  dead  praise  not  the  Lord,"  says 
another,  "  neither  any  that  go  down  into 
silence."  The  Ecclesiast  is  the  most  doleful 
of  all  :  "The  living  know  that  they  must  die  ; 
but  the  dead  know  not  anything  ;  neither 
have  they  any  more  a  reward ;  for  the  memory 
of  them  is  forgotten.  Also  their  love  and 
their  hatred  and  their  envy  is  now  perished ; 
neither  have  they  any  more  a  portion  forever 
in  anything  that  is  done  under  the  sun/' 

What  may  have  been  the  purpose  of  God 
in  keeping  the  secret  of  the  world  to  come 
hidden  from  so  many  of  His  servants,  is  an 
extremely  interesting  question.  Perhaps  it 
was  because  He  wished  them  first  to  recognise 
that  religion  is  a  good  thing  for  this  life, 

119 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

apart  altogether  from  a  life  to  come. 
Certainly,  when  we  read  how  the  saints  of  the 
Old  Testament  rejoiced  in  God  and  declared 
that  His  love  had  made  them  happier  than 
the  godless  ever  could  be,  even  when  their 
corn  and  wine  abounded,  and  when  we  re- 
flect that  these  saints  perhaps  knew  little  or 
nothing  about  the  rewards  of  the  next  life, 
we  begin  to  suspect  that  perhaps  their 
religious  standpoint  is  not  lower  but  higher 
than  our  own.  Is  our  secret  feeling  not 
sometimes  that  the  religious  life  in  this  world 
is  a  poor  affair,  the  prizes  and  tit-bits  falling 
mostly  to  the  worldly  and  the  wicked,  but 
that  what  religion  costs  here  will  be  com- 
pensated by  the  pleasures  of  the  world  to 
come  ?  And,  if  this  is  our  thought,  were  not 
those  far  above  us  who,  apart  altogether  from 
the  punishments  and  rewards  coming  after- 
wards, were  confident  that  wickedness  in  all 
its  forms  is  despicable  and  detestable,  but 
that  godliness  is  life  and  peace  ? 

Another  reason  why  the  saints  of  the  Old 
Testament  were  kept  in  the  dt.  "k  on  this 
subject  may  have  been  that  God  does  not 

120 


Forever 

reveal  the  truth  till  it  is  needed.  Truth 
given  to  those  unprepared  for  it  would  have 
been  little  prized  ;  but,  when  they  were 
stretching  out  their  hands  and  yearning  with 
their  whole  hearts  for  it,  then  the  revelation 
was  seized  with  avidity  and  retained  with 
tenacity. 

In  the  Old  Testament  we  see  the  human 
mind  being  prepared  for  the  revelation  of 
immortality,  till  at  last  it  may  be  said  to  be 
panting  for  it,  as  the  hart  for  water-brooks. 

The  need  of  it  was  felt  in  two  ways.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  was  felt  to  be  necessary,  in 
order  to  make  up  for  the  imperfect  justice  of 
this  life.  The  Mosaic  Law  taught  that 
godliness  and  righteousness  would  have  for 
reward  prosperity  in  this  world  ;  and  this 
was  echoed  in  a  hundred  forms  in  the  sacred 
books,  as  in  the  First  Psalm,  "  Blessed  is  the 
man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of  the 
ungodly,  nor  standeth  in  the  way  of  sinners, 
nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful.  But 
his  delight  is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  in 
His  law  dr*h  he  meditate  day  and  night.  He 
shall  be  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers  of 

121 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

• 

water,  that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his 
season ;  his  leaf  also  shall  not  wither ;  and 
whatsoever  he  doeth  shall  prosper/'  But 
although  this  principle,  of  prosperity  attend- 
ing the  steps  of  the  righteous,  was  amply 
justified  in  the  general  course  of  history,  it 
was  not  justified  in  every  case.  Sometimes 
the  good  man  was  not  prosperous,  and 
sometimes  the  wicked  were.  In  such  cases 
what  was  to  be  said  ?  God's  justice  was  not 
vindicated  in  this  life  ;  must  there  not  be 
compensations  in  another  life  ?  Job  was  an 
example  of  calamity  after  calamity  falling  on 
a  righteous  man,  and  the  whole  Book  of  Job 
may  be  said  to  consist  of  the  moans  and  cries 
of  the  human  soul,  as  it  knocked  at  the  gate 
of  God  for  the  revelation  of  immortality. 

But  the  human  spirit  was  also  brought  to 
the  same  point  along  a  happier  path.  Life, 
according  to  Hebrew  ideas,  was  the  breath  of 
God :  at  the  Creation  God  breathed  into 
man's  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  he 
became  a  living  soul  ;  death,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  the  withdrawal  of  the  divine  breath. 
But,  by  living  in  constant  intercourse  with 

122 


Forever 

God,  might  not  the  human  being  be  so  filled 
with  the  divine  energy  that  he  could  not  die  ? 
Sometimes  the  saints,  when  living  very  near 
to  God,  felt  themselves  to  be  so  full  of  health 
and  strength,  derived  from  God  Himself,  that 
the  conviction  forced  itself  on  their  minds 
that  nothing,  not  even  temporal  death,  could 
separate  them  from  His  love.  This  is  the 
glorious  feeling  of  the  Sixteenth  Psalm  : 

I  have  set  the  Lord  always   before  me : 

Because    He    is    at    my   right   hand,    I    shall    not    be 

moved. 

Therefore  my  heart  is  glad,  and  my  glory  rejoiceth : 
My  flesh  also  shall  dwell  in  safety. 
For  Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  to  Sheol  ; 
Neither    wilt    Thou    suffer     Thine    holy    one    to    see 

corruption. 

Thou  wilt  shew  me  the  path  of  life  : 
In  Thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy ; 
At  Thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore. 

It  was  along  this  sunny  path  of  communion 
with  God  that  the  singer  of  the  Twenty-third 
Psalm  also  was  led  to  belief ;  and,  although 
his  vision  may  have  lasted  only  for  a  moment, 
it  would  be  unwarrantable  to  deny  that  he  may 
have  seen  the  promised  land. 


The  Psalm  of  Psalms 

We,  however,  are  more  favourably  situated. 
In  the  interval  between  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New  the  mists  in  which  the  other 
life  was  enveloped  began  to  clear  away  ;  and 
the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  all  adopted 
and  developed  the  faith  in  immortality.  Jesus 
Himself  made  the  revelation  of  this  hope 
peculiarly  His  own.  He  Himself  breathed 
the  atmosphere  of  the  other  world  ;  He 
raised  the  dead  and  was  Himself  raised  from 
the  dead  ;  He  spoke  of  the  many  mansions 
in  His  Father's  house  ;  and,  as  we  follow 
His  departing  figure  from  the  summit  of 
Olivet,  we  obtain  a  very  near  view  of  that 
country  in  which  those  who  have  come  to 
Him  as  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  their 
souls  will  be  led  to  fountains  of  living  water, 
and  those  who  have  worn  themselves  out  in 
His  service  on  earth  will  be  made  to  rest 
from  their  labours  forever. 


124 


APPENDIX 


125 


APPENDIX 

THOUGH  I  have  chosen,  for  tide,  THE  PSALM 
OF  PSALMS,  other  phrases  may  occur  to  the 
ingenious.  Mr.  Meyer  has  entitled  his 
sweet  and  tender  comment  THE  SHEPHERD 
PSALM,  and  Dr.  John  Stoughton  called  his 
THE  SONG  OF  CHRIST'S  FLOCK.  A  good 
title  by  an  anonymous  author  is  THE  SHEP- 
HERD KING  ;  and  an  attractive  one  might 
be  THE  PSALM  OF  OUR  CHILDHOOD. 

When  occupied  with  any  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture, I  like  to  have  at  hand  two  commentaries 
— a  thoroughly  scientific  one,  to  make  clear 
what  exactly  the  author  said  and  intended, 
and  a  more  devotional  or  homiletical  one,  to 
suggest  applications.  For  the  Psalms,  the 
couple  I  have  thus  used  most  have  been 
Hupfeld  and  Spurgeon. 

Hupfeld  is  not  only  the  best  commentary 
on  the  Psalms  known  to  me,  but  the  best  com- 

127 


Appendix 

mentary  I  have  ever  used  on  any  part  of  Scrip- 
ture. In  fact,  it  taught  me  what  exegesis  is. 
It  is  rationalistic  ;  but  it  is  easy  to  discount 
this ;  and  nothing  can  surpass  its  learning 
and  knowledge,  its  literary  appreciation  and 
intellectual  grasp.  Unfortunately  it  has  not 
been  translated ;  but  much  of  the  essence  of 
it  has  been  transferred  to  Perowne.  Those 
who  prefer  what  is  more  recent  may  turn 
to  Kirkpatrick's  three  volumes,  to  be  had 
bound  in  one,  or  Briggs'  two  volumes  in 
the  International  Commentary. 

As  for  Spurgeon's  Treasury  of 'David,  the 
bulky  volumes  and  miscellaneous  contents 
will  repel  scholarly  readers.  Yet  Spurgeon 
has  far  more  learning  than  he  gets  credit 
for ;  he  seldom  misses  the  drift  of  a  psalm  ; 
and  in  his  heaps  of  accumulations  there  is 
many  a  remark  or  illustration  that  can  be 
made  to  shine  like  a  gem  in  a  discourse. 
Maclaren's  three  volumes  on  the  Psalms  in 
the  Expositor's  Bible  are  among  the  best 
of  his  expository  writings. 


INDEX 


I.  QUOTATIONS 


Lord  Bacon,  38. 

Sir  H.  W.  Baker,  12. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher,  viii. 

Browning,  40. 

Bunyan,  80,  101. 

Burns,  42. 

Clephane,  Elizabeth  C.,  27. 

Goethe,  69. 

Herrick,  109, 


Homer,  112. 

W.  A.  Knight,  93. 

Rutherford,  101. 

Shakspeare,  84. 

George  Adam  Smith,  92. 

C.  H.  Spurgeon,  30. 

St.  Bernard,  101. 

St.  Augustine,  IOI. 


II.  TOPICS 


Backsliding,  70. 
Character,  44. 
Death,  84,  115  ff. 
Discipline,  57. 
Friendship,  97. 
Health,  40. 
Hospitality,  8. 
Humility,  61. 
Instruction,  early,  3* 
Love,  human,  41,  49. 
Misfortune,  31,  59. 


Parabolic  teaching,  1 8,  28. 

Persecution,  60. 

Poetry  in  common  things,  21. 

Prayer,  68. 

Presence,  the  Divine,  85,  113. 

Prosperity,  38. 

Success,  43. 

Supper,  The  Lord's,  12. 

Tenderness,  the  Divine,  63. 

Well-doing,  51. 

Word  of  God,  10,  50,  69. 


T29 


THE 

SHORT  COURSE  SERIES 

EDITED  BY 

Rev.  JOHN  ADAMS,  B.D. 


This  Series  is  designed  to  encourage  a  healthy  re- 
action in  the  direction  of  expository  preaching. 
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THE  BEATITUDES. 

By  Rev.  ROBERT  H.  FISHER,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 

THE  LENTEN  PSALMS. 

By  the  Editor. 

THE  PSALM  OF  PSALMS. 

By  Prof.  JAMES  STALKER,  D.D.,  Aberdeen. 

THE  SONG  AND  THE  SOIL. 

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THE  PROPHECY  OF  MICAH. 

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written,  and  is  full  of  stimulating  illustration.  I 
think  it  exceedingly  likely  the  plan  may  meet  a  mod- 
ern want.  The  Bible  as  a  backbone  for  preaching 
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fulness  to  our  pulpit  work.  For  this  and  other  rea- 
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to  further  your  good  work." 

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"You  have  got  hold  of  a  fine  idea,  and  your  Series, 
I  am  sure,  will  fulfil  a  most  necessary  ministry. 
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